Dead Memories
by Gilles ze Dragon
Summary: Seit's memories come to him in almost a semi-vicious cycle. They eventually get so bad that he walks the line between sanity and insanity, and, later, life and death. NOTE: If you're reading this for the first time, start with the a/n in chapter 7.
1. Chapter 1

**Yayz, first chapter of my first fic! ^-^ Not that it means anything.... *shifty eyes* This chapter and the next few are a tad slow, but it _should_ pick up by about the midway mark chapter-wise (background info, what can I say? xD).  
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**Seit, Shael, Mehin, and Toright are mine, the rest belongs to Naughty Dog. Reviews=love!**

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Seit dropped his laptop bag against his bedroom doorframe and put his handbag in front of the small table next to the door, making sure he did not almost knock the brown and white lamp off of it again. He pulled the black- and purple-striped arm warmer on his left forearm more towards his elbow and collapsed on on his bed with his back to the ceiling out of sheer boredom. After some thought as to what he wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon, he proceeded to look for the television remote on the messier side of his bed. He pushed a few strands of his long, black hair out of his dark brown eyes as his large hands pushed his, at that moment, unnecessary belongings aside.

"Let's see here...wireless mouse for my laptop, duplicate Chuck the Griffin pin, my silver PlayCenter Pocket plus charger cable, my portable music player that has a crappy amount of memory, DAMNIT! Shael, did you take my TV remote again?" he called out to his slightly younger sister as he continued searching for the remote.

"To be honest, I haven t gone into your room to get anything for a little over a week now," Shael replied. "Mehin might've, though. She s been running around like a little nut-case all day and getting into anything she possibly can. I think she's pretending to be a Coon today; she's already taken some of my stuffed animals and hidden them in a place where she most likely knows I can't find them. Trust me, I've checked every place that I considered an obvious hiding spot except for a few places in your room and haven t found any of my stuff yet."

"That would explain why this little, green dragon of yours is in my room," Seit said as he tossed the stuffed creature out his bedroom door.

"Hey, don t throw it so hard! The last thing I want is for it to fall down the stairs and be completely obliterated by Pell's jaws," Shael said, walking over and picking up the small dragon before it started tumbling down the stairs. She put it on the wooden chest next to Seit's bedroom door and put her shoulder-length, jet-black hair into a ponytail. "While you're looking for your stupid television remote again, do both of us a favor and look around in your room for Mehin. I haven't seen her anywhere for almost an hour now. I m absolutely sure she hasn t gotten outside, unless she quietly snuck out when I wasn t paying attention."

"Fine, sheesh. She's probably hiding in her huge pile of stuffed animals again for all we know, anyway. If she's outside, she knows not to go too far away from the house nor get too close to the edge of the walkways. Mom's told her that more times than I can even count, which hopefully means that it s definitely gotten into her brain by now," Seit said as he moved the cushions at the head of his couch-bed to see if the remote had fallen down there.

Seit didn't even have time to start yelling, "HOLY CRAP!" as Mehin suddenly popped out of the small gap between the back of the couch and the head of his bed, the toddler's bright orange-red hair in slight disarray from her typical playing antics.

"Hide and seek, yay! I win, I win, I win!" Mehin happily cried as her older brother did a back-roll that made him land with his back on the bed and his head almost knock against the bookshelf. Shael started breaking out in a fit of laughter as Mehin crawled out onto Seit s bed, ran out his bedroom door, and headed downstairs to do who-knows-what.

"I think...I found Mehin," Seit said, hoisting himself into a sitting position and rubbing the back of his head. "Hey, what s so funny?!"

"You, getting the crap scared out of you by a five-and-a-half-year-old kid!" Shael answered when she managed to stop laughing. "By the way, your friend Toright called this morning just after you left for English class. He said he wants you to call him back; he mentioned something about wanting to know if you wanted to go on a small road trip to the western bazaar to pick up a birthday present for his cousin."

"Oh, really? Damn, he keeps forgetting that my English class is at one in the afternoon, not two! Where's the communicator?" Seit asked, brushing past his sister as he headed downstairs.

"I put it on the charger. Feed Pell while you re down there for me, would you? That Croca-dog was starting to chew up my last good pair of slippers when I found him while looking for Mehin in my room. I'm pretty sure it s his way of telling me he's hungry again. I promise I'll take him out for a walk later for you so Mom won't get mad," Shael said.

"Thanks a lot, sis! I'll try to remember the mutt this time, don't worry," Seit exclaimed as he grabbed the communicator and called Toright.

"Hey, Seit, buddy! Whassup!" Toright exclaimed when he picked up the phone. This_ is_ Seit, right? Last time I called, it was the bitch, er, I mean Shael."

"Yeah, Tor, it s me. Shael said you called. Of course I m in for the road trip. When should I be at your house?" Seit asked. He then lowered the volume of his voice to almost a whisper so his sisters could not hear. "By the way, nice fake story to make my sister unaware of what we're really doing."

"No problem, dude. Get to my house at around four or five so it looks like we really are going out shopping for my cousin's birthday. Lucky for us, my sister s birthday really is soon, so there's little to no way our parents are going to suspect us. My parents are going to another one of their friend s parties, and they said that they don't plan on coming home until sometime tomorrow morning. I'm ordering pizzas, and feel free to tell your folks that you'll either be back late or you ll be spending the night at my pad so they won t freak out and crap when you re not home by curfew," Toright explained.

"That's good. In case I forget to tell you to later, tell your cousin that I said happy birthday, would you? Want me to bring some of my games and my guitar controller so we have something to actually do other than sit and watch television?" Seit asked in his normal tone of voice.

"Perfect, dude! Totally bring 'em, especially that one game you got for your birthday. I've been dying to play the non-crappy-store-demo version ever since I saw it!" Toright exclaimed. "Maybe bring one of your real guitars, too, in case we decide to have ourselves a little jam session or something."

"I'll be sure to. I'll see you at around four," Seit said, hanging up the communicator right after. He glanced at the time on the microwave on the counter next to the refrigerator, and noticed that it was about three-thirty. He had plenty of time to get his stuff together.

"What was that all about?" Shael asked.

"Oh, nothing. Toright just wants me to stay over at his place for a while after our road trip for some pizza. I might be sleeping over at his house tonight if it gets too late, so pass it along to Mom when she gets home," Seit explained as he walked back upstairs to put his belongings together with Shael following close behind.

"Pizza, video games, and guitars; what a study session," Shael said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "You _know_ you re grounded, Seit. You're lucky you can still go hang out with your friends every so often as long as you tell Mom that you re out studying at least most of the time instead of doing anything but."

"Oh, shut the hell up. Just tell mom that Toright's just helping me study for my biology test on Monday, and the stuff is for between cramming sessions so our brains don't get fried. That excuse should cover me tonight, right?" Seit asked.

"You two? Studying on a _Friday_?" Shael asked while giving Seit her "You have _got_ to be kidding me!" look. "Toright's lucky he's an honor roll and dean's list type of kid, so Mom doesn't mind you hanging out with him to study while you re grounded. If Mom knew how much you _really_ study, then you _definitely_ wouldn't be going _anywhere_. I know you _never_ actually study for_ anything._ You're _so_ lucky I don t tell mom the truth."

"Maybe I am!" Seit cried as he took his set of keys off of the shelf next to the front door.

"You know, Mom's never going to believe your excuse if you don't take your binder!" Shael stated as she ran back upstairs to Seit's room.

"Forget it; just tell her that Toright s notes are, like, ten times better than mine, so we'll be studying off of them," Seit called as he put his bags on his shoulder and fiddled with his keys, looking for the key to his Zoomer bike.

"Fine, just go, and keep Pell from getting out if he's begging at the door. I don't want to go through what happened the last time he got out again," Shael said as she came back down the stairs.

"Ok. Wait, crap! I forgot to feed the mutt!" Seit said just as he opened the front door.

"Don't worry about...DAMNIT! PELL! Don't chew up the couch pillows again! Bad dog!" Shael cried as she caught Pell red-pawed on the family room couch.

Seit simply chuckled as he walked out the door and walked down the small set of wooden stairs that led to the platform that the family's Zoomers were parked next to after use. He hopped on the old, light blue and yellow Zoomer bike that his grandparents had once owned and started its engine. From the small opening in the slightly ajar door and just above the sound of the softly humming engine, he could hear Mehin cheering about something, as always.

Not wanting to stay around to figure out what Mehin was so cheerful about, Seit flew the Zoomer in the direction of his friend s house and joined the appropriate line of traffic. He looked down at the streets below on occasion like he always did, just to see what kinds of people were out at the time. As he did so, he couldn't help but notice the increased amounts of Krimzon Guards patrolling the streets, especially the ones in the new, bright-yellow uniforms.

_Geez, I thought they were supposed to be the **Krimzon** Guard, not the Sun Guard,_ he thought. _Either way, Tor and I better not screw anything up tonight. We can't have the guards coming after our asses tonight if they catch us getting out of the city without a damn good reason and a pass to go with it. They did it the first time we tried going out to Haven Forest, and we can't let them do it now, especially with Dad back in the guard. Who knows what would happen to him, more or less me, if that happened._


	2. Chapter 2

**Updates, yay! Toright & Seit are mine, the game they're playing is based off of Guitar Hero, which belongs to whichever company (or companies) currently own(s) it, _Odd Haven_ based off of the book _Weird Maryland_, and belongs to Matt Lake. Everything else belongs to Naughty Dog.**

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"So, when are we leaving, again?" Toright asked. Half of his attention was directed towards the video game flashing on the screen and what buttons he was pressing on his guitar-shaped controller; the other half was mostly concentrated on the smell of the pizza on the red-brown-colored coffee table behind him.

"Depends; how long does it normally take to get from here to where we want to be in Haven Forest?" Seit asked in return.

"The last few times I did practice runs, it took me anywhere between half an hour and forty-five minutes one-way in either direction at my pace," Toright said.

"Fine, then. We'll leave at around eleven-fifteen, just in case traffic s bad for whatever reason tonight. You're driving us there again, since I don't know exactly which way you take to get down there," Seit stated.

"That's fine with me, dude. Get a slice or two of pizza ready for me, I'm almost done with this song and I'm so damn hungry right now!" Toright exclaimed as he began the final part of the song he was playing.

Seit put two slices of pizza on a paper plate, got up off of the couch, and stood next to Toright, watching what was on the screen. Toright finished the song flawlessly and took the plate from Seit's hand.

"Damn, you're good at that song!" Seit exclaimed, fixing a plate of pizza for himself.

"Eh, I've been practicing. Too bad I suck at most of the other songs, though," Toright replied with a grin. "You don't mind eating off of the fancy, expensive, antique plates tonight, do you?"

"Not at all!" Seit said with a chuckle.

"That's good." Toright looked up at the face of the tall grandfather clock next to him and thought for a moment. "So, what are we going to do for the next four hours other than eat pizza, jam on our real guitars, and play video games?"

"I have no idea. Aren't there any other weird things in or around this city that we can check out other than what goes on with that huge tree in Haven Forest at midnight? We've already gone and found the giant wine bottle in the business section and found enough Chicken Man tracks in Dead Town to say that he most likely does exist to some degree; unless, of course, it's somebody planting those to make us think he's real. That, and we've nearly gotten caught at least five times while going to see if the Peoren Mansion by the Pumping Station is actually haunted the past two or three trips," Seit said, trying to remember if they were almost caught six or seven times instead of five.

"Hold on, let me check the book," Toright said as he pulled his copy of _Odd Haven_ off of his bookshelf and flipped through the pages. "We could always try to see if the White Amy myths are true!" He was referring to a white statue of a woman in a shroud with a pair of scissors in one hand cutting a rope of flowers on her lap that supposedly killed people if they were sitting in her lap at exactly midnight.

"Can't do that tonight, man; that statue's another thing that we'll have to check out at midnight exactly. How about we go see if we can get a glimpse of the no-longer-hanging coffin of Perran?" Seit suggested.

"Isn't that another midnight thing, or is my memory crap on this kind of stuff again?" Toright asked, scratching his head.

"No, no, it's something we can do anytime we want. All we need are a couple of flashlights. Where does the book say the thing is?" Seit asked.

"Hold on, let me see here. It says the tomb's in a graveyard just south of Haven Forest. This is perfect, dude! It's right where we want it to be! We are _so_ leaving out of here as soon as possible!" Toright exclaimed. "Eat what pizza you can now, dude. If there's any left, put the box in the fridge so the cats don't get to it and eat the sausage off again."

"Nice, man. I'm glad we ll be able to actually see something other than a bunch of animal bones in front of a supposedly haunted house or some giant chicken footprints!" Seit said as he grabbed another slice of pizza."I 'm pretty sure this one's my last slice for the night. You want any more pizza, Tor?"

"Nah, I'm good," Toright said, grabbing a pair of flashlights out of the hall closet and taking his car keys out of his pocket. "There should be enough room for the box on the bottom shelf of the fridge, though you might have to move some of the take-out boxes over."

"Geez, your parents sure do go out to eat a lot!" Seit exclaimed as he put the pizza box in the fridge and walked towards the front door.

"Actually, they don't go out too much. We just can't afford to buy some plastic containers to put our leftovers in right now, so my mom just cleans out an old take-out box and uses that instead," Toright explained as the two teenagers walked out the door.

"Damn, man! Why didn't you tell me this earlier? I think my mom still has a bunch of containers like that in our attic from when she used to sell the stuff," Seit stated as he and his friend got in the Zoomer built to carry two people. "Our moms should hook up to talk about that sort of thing."

"Your mom really sold plastic bowls and crap like that for a living at one point? Geez, that's useful. My mom just sells makeup and lotion stuff that I personally think smells like two-week-old leftovers, so maybe your sisters and I can switch places or something! They'll get to smell nice for free, while you and I get to hang out whenever they want!" Toright fantasized as he started the Zoomer and took off in the direction of Haven Forest.

"Ha ha, don't we wish! That might be the case eventually if something happens to either one of us that makes us lose our house or whatever. I hope that isn t soon, but at the rate this city s going, who knows."

"If it ever does, it'll probably be my family that goes first. That'll mean I won't have to eat leftovers out of take-out boxes every night ever again! Yes!"

"Yeah, but you re going to have to deal with Mehin and Shael, unfortunately. Then again, putting up with Shael is a piece of cake compared to putting up with Mehin when Mehin's decided to go into hyper-mode."

"True, true. What is it with your gene pool, man?! I m starting to think that your whole family s full of crazies!"

The two friends laughed as Toright continued to drive towards the city towards the south-western gate.


	3. Chapter 3

**Second update for today. Woo. Skeleios, Areatia, and Garuos are mine; the music player (mp3 player, technically) is based off of the Sansa Fuse, which is owned and made by SanDisk; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog. Reviews are appreciated! ^-^**

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The sun had set behind an unseen horizon on the other side of the tall cliffs surrounding the area, taking away what light had barely been able to pour through the treetops of Haven Forest. Skeleios sat near the edge of the cliff next to the roaring waterfall, staring curiously at the small, thin, black object in his clawed hand. The shiny side, he figured, was supposed to be the front side of the object. The square on top half of this side was more silver-grey in color instead of jet black, perhaps because it a screen of some sort. Under the silver-grey square were a large circle with a white ring along the outer edge of it and a smaller circle in the middle of it. Another small circle was just above and to the right of the large circle with a small shape that looked like a human s house etched above it.

He took his right index claw and started touching the larger circle to see if it did anything. After some experimenting, he found that it could not only spin around in either direction at his claw s command, but also made four different clicking sounds when he pushed it down and spun it. From the small symbols on the top, bottom, left and right sides of the larger circle, he thought that they indicated either directions or functions. Based on the clicking sounds the large circle was making, he concluded that the symbols were more for function than direction.

"Well? What is it?" Areatia, his best friend, asked him, poking him with her staff and trying to get a good view of the object in his hand.

"I'm not entirely sure," Skeleios replied. "I thought it might be a compass of some strange sort, but after fiddling with it, I found that's not the case. Would you quit poking me with that thing?"

"Oh, sorry." Areatia put her staff on the ground a few feet away to ease the temptation to poke her friend with it. "So, if it's not a compass, what is it? What does it do?"

"I don't really know. It must run on Eco, whatever it is. Humans are always making such types of devices these days. If I'm right, and it _does_ run on Eco, then I wonder how to turn it on. There must be a switch of some sort somewhere on this thing."

Skeleios continued thoroughly inspecting the object, this time turning it around so he could see all of the sides in it. The backside had some human writing on the top of it, and some strange symbols that probably meant something to the humans stamped on the bottom of it. There were two holes in the bottom edge of the device, one rectangular and the other circular, and what looked like a switch near the bottom corner of the right edge.

"Well, that's stupid! It's got holes in the bottom of it! What kind of idiotic human would do that?" Areatia exclaimed when she noticed the two holes on the bottom of the device.

"They're probably there for a reason, Areatia. I think this switch on the side here turns it on," Skeleios pondered, pointing at the small switch he had found.

He used his thumb-claw to push the switch up as far as it could go, and then let it fall back down to its original position. Immediately, the previously silver-grey square lit up as brightly as the yellow gems on the two creatures heads. Something written in a human language flashed across the black screen, and then a light blue background appeared with information written in a language the two Metal Heads could neither read nor understand. There was a slightly darker blue bar on the top and bottom of the screen, and there was a small, square image next to some writing between the two bars.

"Whoa! That was cool!" Areatia exclaimed, her pupils contracting to become accustomed to the bright light. "What does the screen say?"

"I don't know, it's all written in some human language. From what I can tell from this black bar at the bottom and the numbers under it, though, I think it s showing how far along something has progressed. Other than that, this thing doesn't look like it's doing anything, unless I'm supposed to push a button on it to make it do something," Skeleios stated.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Push a button, for Denios' sake!" Areatia urged.

"Areatia, you _know_ you're not supposed to use our clan founder's name like that,' Skeleios reminded, continuing to fiddle with the device.

Areatia sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. Skeleios pushed the large circle's right side. The white circle turned blue for a few seconds, and the writing and image between the two bars changed. He pushed the large circle's left side, and the white circle turned blue again for a few seconds while the image and writing on the screen went back to what he had seen before pushing the large circle s right side. He pushed the large circle's top side, and an orange bar started filling the black bar with the numbers next to it starting from the left side. Skeleios stared at the device in awe before turning back to his friend.

"Areatia, come take a look at this! I'm not entirely sure what I've just made it do, but it's something!" Skeleios exclaimed, turning the front of the device so that his friend could take a look at it.

"I don't see anything, Skel; the screen is off. You didn't break it, did you?" Areatia inquired. She was right: the screen had actually turned off, and the device had appeared to return to its original state.

"What the hell did it do?" Skeleios cried, staring at the screen. "Don't die on us, you little, black whatever you are!"

He gently put a claw on the large circle and slowly moved it clockwise, causing the circle to move with his claw. The white circle turned blue again for a few seconds, and the screen started to glow once again. The orange and black bar was replaced by a similar bar with a plus and minus sign on both sides of it; the part of the bar that was previously orange had been replaced with a light blue bar that took up a little over half of the black bar. After about five seconds, the orange and black bar appeared once again below the writing and square image. The orange bar had now taken up about half of the black bar. Ten seconds later, the screen stopped glowing once again.

"Why does the screen stop glowing after a few seconds? It's almost as stupid as the two holes on the bottom edge of this thing!" Areatia cried.

"It's probably to save power or something," Skeleios said, shrugging. "I hear humans make these sorts of things do that sometimes. It makes them usable for a longer period of time when they're not attached to something that can keep them running for days at a time."

"What did you two find to fiddle around with now?" a familiar male voice inquired from the tree branches above the two Metal Heads.

Skeleios and Areatia looked up to find Garuos standing on a tree branch a few feet above them, his tall, lean, purple body leaning against the tree's thick trunk. Garuos often went to the city where the humans lived to get things such as electronic devices and food to bring back to his fellow Metal Heads so that they could learn more about the pale, almost hairless creatures. He was older than Skeleios and Areatia by a few years, and an impeccable warrior that carried his Eco sling with him at all times. His amazing aim with his sling made him a favorite amongst the troop leaders of their clan, and his amicable, if not slightly introverted, nature made him easy to find friends amongst his own kind.

"We're not entirely sure. It's some sort of human device that most likely runs on Eco like a lot of the things you've brought back from the city and shown us, but we don t know exactly how it works," Skeleios explained briefly.

Garuos leapt down onto the ground in front of Skeleios and took the device from his hand. He closely inspected it down to the shape of the symbols on either side of it. He rotated the large circle with his claw, making the screen glow for a few seconds.

"Ah. I know what this is. It s a portable music player. I've seen the teenage humans in the city using these sorts of things a lot when I'm doing spy missions in the city. Did this thing have a set of head-speakers when you two found it?" Garuos asked. Skeleios and Areatia looked at each other, and then back at Garuos. The two younger Metal Heads were completely clueless when it came to human technology, since they hardly had any experience dealing with humans and the devices they used. "Head-speakers are the things that make sound that humans put either over or in their ears so they can hear and listen to the music that's coming out of the device. There's another end that's gold colored that you can put into this little hole to make the sound come out." Garuos pointed to the small, circular hole on the bottom edge of the device.

"No, we didn't find anything of the sort when we found this music thing," Areatia said.

"Where did you guys find this?" Garuos asked.

"Over there, just under that tree," Skeleios said, pointing at the said tree. "Why do you ask?"

"From my experience, the one thing I can definitely say about these things is that where there is a portable music player, there are head-speakers to go along with it somewhere. Most of the ones I've seen around the city are hard to find, especially since the parts of them that the humans put in their ears are sometimes very small," Garuos explained as the three Metal Heads came to the tree that Skeleios had specified. "This is the tree, right?" Skeleios and Areatia nodded in reply.

Garuos slowly walked around the tree, looking very carefully at the ground. He circled the tree a few times, then suddenly knelt down and picked up a lime green wire in his claws. He stood up and dangled the wire in the air to see how long it was. On one end, there was a large, plastic, green and black device with two circles connected to each other via a plastic band, and attached to two wires that later formed into one; on the other end was a small, thick, golden rod with a diameter that looked about the size of the hole on the bottom edge of the music player.

"This, my friends, is what goes into that thing to hear what song it's playing," Garuos said, pointing at the music player in Skeleios' claws. "Here, I'll let you guys try it and see what you think of it."

Garuos took the music player from Skeleios and plugged the golden end of the head-speakers into the appropriate hole. Suddenly, a faint sound started coming out from the head-speakers, indicating that both the music player and the head-speakers were working properly. Garuos then put the head-speakers near his head, and then rotated the large circle on the music player, making the sound that was coming out of them almost inaudible from where Skeleios and Areatia were standing. Afterwards, he made sure the head-speakers were facing a certain direction and put them on Skeleios head. The plastic band rested comfortably on top of Skeleios Skull Gem, and the speakers rested on either side of his head.

Skeleios could suddenly hear the music, if he could call it that, coming out of the device; it was a human singing over instruments playing in the background. He could barely understand the words being sung by the vocalist, so he focused more on figuring out what instruments were being played in the background. He quickly identified what he knew to be drums, banging and crashing loudly to keep the tempo going. There was something else that was hit occasionally along with the drums that sounded like metal pots or pans being hit against each other, but he was unsure of what they were really called. There were two or three other instruments, if they were even instruments at all, playing either high-noted melodies or what he thought was some kind of deep growling roughly in time with the tempo. There was another sound that was playing very deep notes that he could barely hear at times above the melodies and growling of the unknown instruments and drums.

He listened to the music for a while, his eyes growing as wide as they could and his ears quickly becoming accustomed to the volume of the sounds. He had never heard this kind of music before in his life.

"This sounds truly amazing!" Skeleios cried in amazement. He put the head-speakers on Areatia's head in the same direction Garuos had put them in. "Listen to this! It's like nothing either one of us has ever heard before! What do the humans call this music, Garuos?"

Garuos read what was on the screen. "I believe they generally call what you two are listening to right now rock music. I've heard it a few times before myself. Nice, isn t it?" he asked.

"You bet your sweet ass, it s nice!" Skeleios agreed.

"Yes, truly!" Areatia added, taking the head-speakers off of her head. "But, what are the sounds in here that sound like,... well, I don't think I can put words to it. I knew the drums and singing automatically, but I don't know what s making the other sounds in there.

"I think I know what you're talking about, Areatia, and I'm curious to know what they are, too," Skeleios said. "There were instruments that sounded like they were growling at times, and at other times, they were playing melodies. I think there was something playing deep notes underneath them, as well. I also heard what sounded to me like clanging metal pots and pans that were played along with the tempo of the song."

"The metal-pots-and-pans sounds most likely were the drummer hitting the cymbals that come with his drum kit. What you described as melodies and growls were what I think are called electric guitars. They're like the violins and other instruments of the sort that I ve brought back to show you all before, only they re larger, they generally don t look anything like a violin, and they'"re not played like what I ve seen violins be played," Garuos explained. "They hang from the player's shoulders from a strap, and they player uses their fingers and claws to pluck and what they call strum the strings make he sounds you hear. The deeper sounds you mentioned must also be some kind of guitar as well. I don't think I've seen one before, though, more or less heard of one. I'll have to ask my connections as to what they are."

"Connections?" Areatia asked. "What kind of connections?"

"They're creatures that the humans use for cheap slave labor. They call themselves Lurkers, and physically, they're generally large and dark purple, and they look somewhat like apes. They've given me some of the things I've brought back," Garuos stated. "In fact, some actually make this rock music and play in groups called bands, so they get to play their music in various places. The humans seem to like this sort of thing, so they give the musical Lurkers things like money and Eco to do this. One of the Lurkers I know even has some of these portable music players with head-speakers that he's bought for him and his friends. Since he has more music players and head-speakers than he can give away to his kind, he s provided me with a few dozen. He said that he s already put over 1,000 songs into the memory of each one, so they should be able to entertain us for a long time."

"You have plenty on you?" Areatia asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up with joy.

"Of course. I was going to give them out to you all later at the next clan meeting if I'm not forced to sell them, but I guess I could give you two each of your own. I even have plenty of sets of head-speakers to go with them, so you ll be able to use them properly the moment you get them," Garuos said. "Follow me to my place; I'll get them for you."

Skeleios and Areatia grinned at each other happily and followed Garuos to his home amongst the trees.

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"So, when the battery runs low, just bring your music player to my tree house and tell me so I can plug it into one of these portable computers to let it charge. Feel free to hang around while it charges, since the Lurker that gave me these said that it would take quite a while for these little babies to charge, especially when the battery's low," Garuos explained as Skeleios and Areatia fiddled a bit with the devices and head-speakers Garuos had given them. "The batteries in these things should last about two or three hours when they re not plugged in, so use them wisely if you don't want to spend most of your day in here."

"Batteries? Garuos, what kind of crazy, hell-bent piece of human crap did you bring back with you this time?" Zexios asked as he limped into the hut on his cane. He was ciurrently the aged leader of the Metal Head clan in Haven Forest and a long-seasoned war veteran who usually cursed like a sailor. "You know we re not supposed to be using anything the humans make, and yet you keep bringing that kind of damned crap back with you! Let me see this damned thing!" He snatched one of the portable music players out of the box Garuos was standing next to and examined it thoroughly, turning it every which way possible. "What the hell does it do?"

"It plays music through special earpieces, my lord," Garuos replied, holding up the head-speakersfor their leader to see. "I hear they're highly valued amongst at least some of the humans, particularly the younger ones, and they're very hard to obtain at the moment due to their high price. Perhaps our traders could have some use for them the next time they go into the city to receive our latest shipment of Eco."

"So we have some damn use for them? That's good. I want to see more Eco and less of these pieces of crap come back with you the next time you make a trip into that damned city," Zexios demanded. He suddenly looked around and noticed Skeleios and Areatia in the room with them. "What are you two doing here? Go set up those damn, piece-of-crap torches by the old tree! It s almost midnight!"

Skeleios and Areatia quickly scampered out of Garuos hut and climbed down the tree to the forest floor below with their new devices in their claws.


	4. Chapter 4

**More updating fun. Now the action starts to pick up just a tad. Whoopee. *sets off a firework*  
**

**Same old disclaimer: Toright, Seit, Skeleios, and Areatia (and, breifly mentioned, Zexios) are mine; the the mp3/music player is based off of the Sansa Fuse, which is made/owned by SanDisk; the headphones (head-speakers) in here are too general to say which company they technically belong to; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

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"Do you still have the one music thing you found earlier, Skel?" Areatia inquired as the two young Metal Heads made their way towards the old, large tree.

"Yeah, it's right here," Skeleios replied, holding up the small device in his right claw. "I'm surprised the old hag didn't notice us carrying these things. Imagine how long we'd be banned from sneaking, er, going into the city!"

"I know! Hopefully, these things will help us blend in a little more when we go back, _if_ we go back. The last time we went there, I remember seeing quite a few of the teenage humans using these things. I felt so…different," Areatia said as she tied the wire of her head-speakers to her staff.

"We're always different from the humans, Areatia. Always have been, always will be. There's nothing we can do about it. On a different subject, I'm surprised the two of us haven't learned how to at least _read_ the human's language yet with the amount of time we've spent in that city!"

"Don't get your hopes up too high for accomplishing that anytime soon, Skel. I think it would be a little easier if we actually learned how to speak their language first; I'm pretty sure it would allow us understand what they've written. Otherwise, their written words would mean nothing to us unless they were translated into our language."

"We don't exactly need to learn how to speak their language, just understand what they're saying. From what I can tell, though, their language is way more complicated than ours. From what I've heard from those of us who can speak their language, there can be so many words for one thing, and some humans either prefer to use or only understand one term over another, which can make communication harder. Learning to understand the Lurkers' language is one thing, but the humans' language? That's going to take us a while. We're lucky we understand the humans' term for us, only because of the times we've been caught in the city by one of those pale apes."

"Speaking of humans, we've got a couple of young ones at two o'clock; both are teenage boys, I think."

Areatia was right. Just barely hiding behind one of the wide, ancient stone platforms were two teenage human boys: one with short, black hair wearing dark clothing, the other somewhat shorter with shoulder-length brown hair and somewhat lighter clothing.

"Damn, not more of these onlookers!" Skeleios exclaimed. "Should we bother with chasing them out tonight?"

"Only if they see us while we're lighting our torches. We can't let all of the humans know that we're so close to the city, Zexios said so; only their ruler and his closest connections are allowed to know," Areatia responded.

Skeleios nodded and grabbed a nearby pair of rocks to use as a spark to light the torches on his side of the cliff-valley. He quietly moved along the right side of the cliff-valley and lit the first few torches, hopefully without the humans noticing. He tried to keep the noise of his two rocks clacking together as low as he possibly could while trying to quickly create a spark.

As he went to light the third torch on his path, he suddenly heard one of the humans say something to the other. He stood completely still, waiting to hear if they were going to do anything. He slowly turned his head in the direction of the voices and could barely see the two humans slowly stand up and turn on their Eco-powered, handheld torches. They slowly moved their torches along his path in either direction, the light illuminating the grass and rocks as it bobbed up and down slowly. The humans spoke to each other as they searched the cliffs, possibly asking each other what they had just seen or heard.

The lights started quickly moving closer and closer towards him, forcing him to think fast. Should he quickly climb down the small cliff he stood on to attempt to avoid detection, or lay as flat as he could against the ground and hope the lights did not shine upon him? He decided to attempt to do a combination of both and hope for the best.

He laid down on the ground and commando-crawled as fast as his long, muscular arms could take him. Holding two rocks in one hand and two portable music players with head-speakers in the other made it harder for him to attain his top speed, but at the moment, his current speed would have to do. Once he made it to the edge of the cliff, he swung the lower half of his body over the edge and started climbing down as quietly as he could.

Just as he was about to crawl behind one of the pillars and out of the humans' sight, a light was shown upon him and he immediately froze.

---

"Dude, don't tell me that's what I think it is!" Toright cried as the Metal Head turned to face them. The light from his flashlight made the Metal Head look much more menacing than it did in the pictures the boys had seen of them in school books and on propaganda posters around the city.

"I thought the Baron said that the Metal Heads weren't anywhere within at least five miles of the city! When the hell did this one get here?" Seit exclaimed. He started trembling so hard, he dropped his flashlight. It landed a few feet in front of him and rolled until it hit the Metal Head's feet. He looked into the Metal Head's left hand and noticed that it was carrying a pair of newly-released portable music players with two pairs of headphones to go with them. "Hey, Tor, is that Metal Head carrying what I think it's carrying?"

"Yeah, I think so. You're talking about the rocks, right dude?"

"No, look at the other hand. Those look like the newly released portable music players that just came out last month!"

"Yeah, you're right! How do you think it got them?"

"Who cares, I think we should just get out of here before it decides to throw those rocks at us!"

"I'm right behind you, dude!"

Before another word could be spoken, Seit and Toright turned and ran as if their lives depended on it. Seit didn't care much about losing the flashlight at that moment; he figured that he could buy Toright another one later if he couldn't find the one he dropped sometime later. Behind them, they could hear the Metal Head's footsteps pounding on the forest floor as it chased them around the large tree to the other side so they could leave the way they came in.

Just before they could go through the tunnel out of the area with the tree, they were stopped dead in their tracks by another Metal Head that carried a staff with a bright red light on top of it. The end with the light was aimed directly at them, glowing brightly and illuminating their faces.

Now they were trapped and surrounded on almost all sides. Seit thought that they might never get out of there. What would happen when Toright's parents came home and found that both of them were gone tomorrow morning? Would his and his friend's bodies ever be found if they were killed there?

A deep, masculine voice sounded from a branch above their heads, interrupting Seit's thoughts. It was speaking a language neither he nor Toright could understand, but the Metal Heads apparantly could, because they suddenly looked up in the direction of the sound. This was it: the make-or-break moment! Toright and Seit glanced at each other and grinned, both quickly coming to the same realization that this was when they had to make a run for it.

The two teenagers sprinted around the Metal Head with the staff and made their way through the tunnel towards the exit to the forest before the creatures had any time to react. As they ran, they could hear the Metal Heads chasing after them again. Only now, Dark Eco bombs began to rain down on them, but thankfully, they always landed on the ground just behind them. Above them, another Metal Head was chasing them through the trees with some kind of slingshot that was shooting the Eco at them.

Toright and Seit made it to the floating platform that would take them back to the mountain temple mere seconds before the Metal Heads got to them. As the platform transported them back to the cliff that separated the temple and forest from the city gate, the unarmed Metal Head leapt at the platform. Its hands managed to grasp the bottom of the platform and allowed it to barely hang on.

The platform had just reached the edge of the other cliff when the creature had caught its grip and started pulling itself up. The two teenagers sprinted for their lives again and leapt through the portal to the cliff where the city gate was located with their persuer close behind. The Metal Head became slightly dazed as it tried to figure out exactly how to use the portal, giving Toright and Seit a few extra seconds to get through the gate and onto safe ground.

---

"I'm taking it I just leap through this thing and it'll take me down to where those humans are?" Skeleios asked himself, staring at the ring made of Precursor metal with a glowing blue rift in the middle of it. "It's worth a shot."

Skeleios lept through the blue portal and landed with a thud on the cliff the city gate was located on. He quickly got up and ran through the gate just as it was closing. The two teenagers cowered next to the opening gate on the other side of the room. The black-haired teenager pounded on the door and yelled something out in the humans' language.

Moments later, the gate opened and the two boys ran out and into their flying vehicle at the base of the ramp on the other side of the gate as fast as they could. Skeleios simply walked down the ramp and proceeded to hide behind some of the large plants a few yards from the gate. From stories he's heard about the flying vehicles the humans used, he knew that it would be impossible to catch up to his prey; the vehicles could fly at speeds much faster than even the best Metal Head sprinters he knew of.

The humans he chased had always gotten away from him when they fled towards their city via the orange metal platform. This time, however, was the first time that he had bothered to get a hold of the platform they were escaping on and follow them right into their own city. He had to find a way to blend in, and quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

**More updates today. Whee. Though I kinda feel like this story isn't much of an attention-grabber... o.x Hopefully somebody out there likes it...**

**Usual disclaimer: Skeleios is mine, the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**Enjoy!

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**

He was thankful that there weren't any humans on this path, which allowed him to start emerging from behind the tall, blue, oval-shaped plant that he was using as his temporary hiding place. A large, metal object sprayed water over the rows of similar-looking plants, which made him a little wet. He did not care much about this, though. He was mostly concerned with making his way through the city to find another way out without endangering his life.

Skeleios shook off the water that had fallen on him and snuck behind the corner of the wall that separated this path from the main one. From here, he could hear a few flying vehicles humming overhead mixed with the heavy footsteps of some of the humans, but not much else beyond that. He slowly peeked out from the corner and noticed a few humans dressed in the red and black uniforms he had recognized from previous times he had slunk into the city. From stories he had heard, he knew that they meant bad business, and could shoot to kill without as much as a second thought.

He quickly studied the wall he was leaning against and decided that the best way to avoid being seen was to travel on top of the buildings and walls inside the city. As long as it was done mostly at night, he figured he wouldn't have much of a problem going from one place to another until he obtained some sort of full-body disguise for himself.

He climbed up the wall and looked around at what ground he could see. There were three red-uniformed humans walking around, holding their shooting-sticks in their hands. There were also one or two yellow-uniformed humans walking around with the same sticks in their hands; he assumed these humans were just like the red-uniformed humans when it came to general personality.

The area just ahead of him had arches engraved into the walls lining the edges of the pathways which looked more like connected squares than normal paths. Some of the arches had cloth awnings of various colors spread out above them. Under what ground that was covered by the arches and awnings were various containers containing who-knows-what and shelves adorned with trinkets. In the centers of the squares he saw were wooden stands with various fruits and vegetables on display, as well as more of the various containers.

These paths did not appear to be well lit, so Skeleios slunk along the wall, being careful with how much noise he was making. He made his way towards the first square path and quietly made his way down to the ground in front of one of the arches. He took the various cloths that lined the wall and sat on the shelves and covered his body with them, making especially sure to cover his skull gem. He then took a small cloth, made a makeshift bag out of it with some string he found on a shelf, and put his portable music players and head-speakers in it.

Suddenly, he felt something give him a small jab in the back and heard a male human speak to him. He turned around and looked at the human, who happened to be covered in red and black armor from head to toe. What skin he was able to see appeared only on the human's head and was covered with grey-black markings.

The human pushed the side of his shooting-stick against his left arm and said something else. Taking this gesture as a signal to begin moving to his right, he took a few steps to the right while staring at the human in sheer terror. The human chuckled and said something else, giving him a small shove on the left shoulder before walking off in the opposite direction.

"What was that all about?" Skeleios thought, slowly walking away towards the rest of the squares of shops on his hind legs. He was not entirely used to doing so for long periods of time, but for now, this would have to do if he wanted to blend in as much as possible. He looked over his shoulder on occasion, making sure none of the other red- or yellow-uniformed humans were following him.

As he made his way through the winding maze of paths and squares lined with shops and stands, he could not help but look around in awe at what types of sights this part of the city had to offer. A few shops had lights shining across their inventories while others had light-up words on signs above their stands that blinked a various intervals. In every square he passed through, there was usually a group of wooden stands with various fruits for sale with pots and baskets on the sides that were not displaying anything.

Feeling and hearing his stomach grumble and growl at the sight of the fruit, he walked up to one of the stands and took one of the melon-like fruits off of it. He examined it thoroughly in his claws, noting the texture of its seemingly thick hide and the faint tug of gravity trying to bring it down. After thoroughly examining it and judging it to be of good quality according to his standards, he glanced around to see if any of the humans were watching before slipping it under his arm so he could save it for a later time.

Knowing he was going to need more of these later if he was to survive in this city, he proceeded to look for something to carry more fruits in without taking up too much room or appearing too noticeable. He went over to another stand that was selling various cloths and took a cloth that was somewhat larger than the one he had made his first bag out of. He crafted the cloth into another bag as he walked over to another stand to obtain more fruits. Once he was absolutely sure that none of the nearby humans were watching him, he began placing various fruits in his bag, carefully choosing which ones he took to make sure none of them were rotten or underweight. Once the bag was filled as much as he could get it, he tightened the string and tied it around his upper arm.

Just then, he got the odd feeling that he was being watched. He turned and looked in every possible direction, only to find that everything was the way he assumed was supposed to look. He still could not shake the feeling off, however. From what he could sense, who- or whatever was watching him was coming towards the slowly spinning building on top of the tall tower that loomed over the city. He stared at the building and the tower it rested on, examining every corner he could see.

After staring at it for a few moments, he decided to make his way towards the building in the sky to get a closer view of at least the base of the tower it rested on. He worked his way through the maze of paths until he finally reached the square that led up to the tower base. He walked up the ramp and towards the garden-rimmed base. He touched the metal base and found that there was no way he was going to be able to climb up it to get a closer look at the building. He roamed along the edge and found the only door in to be locked, so at the moment, there was no telling what was behind it.

Curious to see the rest of the city, he continued roaming the streets. While doing so, he began to think about where he would stay while he was here so he looked like every other average human in this city. With a city as big as this, he doubted that there wouldn't be a place somewhere that would take him in for a few nights at the least.


	6. Chapter 6

**Second update for today, just as a way of bringing in Seit's point of view. Hehe, I put in a few references to some parts of my life in here, namely the boring algebra class, the notes on the laptop, the marker-throwing teacher (though my pre-calculus teacher in high school used chalk... anyway!), and the kid with the parametric equation song. I might've shoved a few more in here, I can't remember at the moment. *headdesk***

**Usual stuff:  
Disclaimer: Seit, Shael, Mehin, Toright, Toright's parents, the algebra professor, and Umen the parametric-equation-song kid are mine, the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.  
Reviews = love! ^-^**

**Enjoy!

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**

It had been about four days since he and Toright had seen the Metal Head in Haven Forest, and Seit still couldn't completely get his mind off of it. The fact that he found his two-hour-long algebra class to be extremely boring did not help much. As his professor wrote a problem from the final exam study guide for the class on the board to explain in detail, Seit looked across the rows of heads and at the tree just outside the window. For a few moments, the sight brought him back to that Friday night and the menacing look of the Metal Head staring at him and his friend.

"Seit! Quit daydreaming and pay attention before I decide to make you my first marker-throwing victim for today!" the professor, a black-haired man easily in his early thirties at the least, said as he pointed the uncapped tip of his blue marker at him. The rest of the class chuckled as Seit got his focus back onto the board. "Now, what's your answer?"

"Sorry, professor," Seit apologized. "What was the question again?"

"What is the discriminant in the quadratic equation?" the professor asked.

Seit took a quick glance at the notes on his laptop screen to see if he could find the correct answer. "Erm, plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four-a-c?"

"Good, and what if it's equal to zero?"

---

"So, how many markers did your algebra professor throw at people today?" Shael said as Seit was sitting on his bed, busy working on one of the word problems in his algebra study guide.

"Just one, and it was only Umen, as usual," Seit replied.

"You mean the kid from our high school and one or two of your old math classes?"

"Yeah, the same guy who did that parametric equation song as his final project at the end of the pre-calculus class he and I were both in."

"The same, exact guy? Haha, sweet! By the way, Toright's parents just called from their cell-communicator. They said that they can't afford to live in their house at the moment, so they'll be staying with us until they can get the money to live somewhere slightly more affordable."

Seit sighed and shook his head slightly. "Toright told me on Friday that he was pretty sure his family would lose his house eventually at the way this city was probably going."

"It doesn't surprise me much, either," Shael agreed. "Although, the other day I was actually thinking it would be us to go before them for some reason, but apparantly I thought wrong. Anyway, that wasn't my original point. Toright's parents said that while they were packing up stuff to donate or take with them or whatever, they noticed that they were missing one of their flashlights. They wanted me to ask you if you knew anything about where it might've gone, since you were at their house on Friday and all."

"I didn't even know they had more than one flashlight, actually. The concept never really crossed my mind. Any guesses as to how long it's been missing?"

"I don't know! What do I look like, some kind of psychic?"

Just then, there was a knock on the door, followed by the sounds of Pell barking loudly as he ran towards the door.

"That's probably Toright and his parents. I'll get it," Shael said. "I'M COMING! Pell, back off from the door, you crazy mutt!" she called as she started down the stairs.

Seit listened to what was going on downstairs as he continued his word problem. From what he could hear, the voices of the visitors were not those of Toright or his parents, but sounded more like the voices of some of the local Krimzon Guard officers that regularly patrolled the area. By the sound of the conversation, it sounded serious.

"Oh, crap, this better not be about what happened Friday night or I'm in deep trouble!" Seit thought.

"Who came to see us, big brother?" Mehin asked as she crawled over Seit's belongings to get a look out his window and see who was at the door.

"I don't know, little sis. Shael went down to see them. They shouldn't be that bad, right?" Seit asked.

"I thought the red guys were mostly bad, though," Mehin said, looking at him and cocking her head to the side like Pell did when he was curious about something.

"Not always. They got some good in them somewhere. They keep us safe from the really bad guys, right? And Daddy's with them, so not all of them are that bad."

"What about our older-older brother? He's a good guy! Isn't he with the red guys, too?" She was referring to Erol, their older brother who was slightly older than Seit and had gone into the guard in his early teens. A few years ago, he had managed to climb the ranks up to the point where he was the commander of the Krimzon Guard and the Baron's right-hand man. Mehin had not been born yet when Erol was still living at hom, so she only knew of him through stories her family told her and pictures she saw of him.

"Yeah, he is. He's such a good guy, he lives with the Baron himself!"

"Really? He must be the bestest older-older brother in the world!"

"Seit, what did you do now!?" Shael called up the stairs as she closed the front door.

"What the heck are you talking about? What did they say?" Seit asked, going to the top of the stairs. He felt his heart pounding hard against his chest.

"I'm just kidding with you, gosh. They just came by to give us our supply of Eco for the week," Shael said, putting the somewhat large package of Eco on the coffee table.

"Hee hee, Shael made a funny!" Mehin cried as she ran downstairs and to her play-corner in the family room, giggling like she usually did. There was another knock on the door, and once again Pell began barking like crazy and clawing at the door.

"Now _that_ must be our expected company," Shael said, grabbing Pell by the collar and moving him out of the way. Seit went down to the bottom of the stairs to see his friend as Shael opened the door.

"Hey, new roomies! Whassup!" Toright cheered. He was carrying as much of his stuff as his body would allow. His parents were standing next to him, carrying as many belongings as they could.

"Hey, it's great to see you guys are here! Come in, come in, there's plenty of room," Shael said, letting the guests into the house. "We've been at least trying to make room in here for you all to stay, and I was just about to start cleaning up a bit around here. Make yourselves at home."

"Oh, you kids didn't have to do all that! It's not like we're the Baron and his advisors or anything," Toright's mom said, putting down some of the things she was carrying next to the couch in the family room.

"Sometimes I wish I could almost say the same about our family," Shael mumbled as she made some more space in the living room.

"Hey, Toright, come on upstairs to my room, I'll try to make some floor and shelf space for you," Seit said, starting up the stairs.

---

"So, tell me again why the hell your family's still living here in the slums while your brother's the Baron's lackey and living the high life?" Toright asked as he glanced at a photo Seit had on his bookshelf of him and Erol as children.

"Dude, may I remind you that we're not in just any part of the slums. We're in the northernmost part of the slums, the place that's far away from _anything_ other than the Pumping Station on the other side of the city wall. I swear to the Precursors that being in a place this far away from most of the fun things in the city makes living here feel ten times worse. As to why we're still here, I don't have much of a clue," Seit explained. "Erol cut off most, if not all, contact with us right around when he was appointed the commander of the guard. My dad thought he did it on purpose, but I don't know for sure if it was intentional or not. The only times we've seen him are when we're lucky enough to get tickets to see the races he's competing in."

"What kind of hell-hole has this city turned to when some of your own family members ditch you the minute they get a better life?" Toright asked, shaking his head.

Seit sighed, stood up, and opened the closet door to get something. He opened a few drawers in the dresser that was in there and looked through their contents.

"Don't tell me you're looking for what I think you're looking for, dude," Toright said, his eyes growing wider.

"I am, Tor," Seit replied as he continued to search through the contents of various drawers. "Ah! Here it is!"

He reached into one of the drawers and pulled out the small, silver shotgun he had secretly purchased a few months before. Its metal coating gleamed in what light managed to pour in from the small window. "I've been waiting to use this thing on a few people for a long, long while," he said, stroking the muzzle with his hand.

"You're seriously not going to start using that thing, right dude?" Toright asked, backing up towards the wall the head of Seit's bed rested against. "Your parents still have no idea you bought that thing! What'll they say when they've figured out you have it and you've started going out and using it?"

"That's why I plan on going out and using it at night when most people, including everyone else in this house, are asleep. Besides, it'll be easier for me to hide in the more shadow-covered while I'm out there at night, especially with what I normally wear. I don't see exactly how the guards will find me with this thing in my hand once I start shooting it if I can get myself a good hiding place to aim from."

"Of _course_ the guards won't find you, man! If I know you like I think I do, they're you're targets! They're bound to be! How can they find you if they're already dead? You've been talking about getting revenge on them after what they did to your dad!" Toright exclaimed without making his voice too much louder. "Speaking of that, I thought your dad joined the guard willingly because he wanted to get more money and Eco so you, your mom, and your sisters could stay here!"

"Yeah, but then he tried to quit after learning what the Baron was really doing with part of the city's Eco supply and they wouldn't let him leave. They thought he would spread the word around and create fear or something of the sort in the public's minds. I haven't seen or heard him come home since, despite what my mom's told me."

"But still, dude, that wasn't your dad's fault!"

"Exactly."

"What do you mean?"

"That's exactly why I'm going to start going out tonight and start using my gun. I most likely won't return tonight, or ever, for that matter. Just tell my family that I've started going to school earlier and staying later if they start asking."

"So… you're saying…" Toright started.

"That's right, Tor," Seit answered. "Starting tonight, I'm starting my life on my own as a renegade."


	7. Chapter 7

**3rd update, since I'm currently getting my laptop fixed (Yay for flash drives and my family owning another computer!), and I have no idea if it'll be fixed before I go on vacation on Friday so I can update more. ****This chapter also has the goriest moment in the entire story. Whee.  
**

**Usual disclaimer as it applies to this chapter (including the brief summary below): Seit, Toright, Skeleios, Areatia, Garuos, and the nameless homeless man are mine; the music players are based off of the Sansa Fuse, which is owned and made by SanDisk; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.  
**

**The real story begins with this chapter; I put the rest of the chapters in mainly as a very extended prologue. So, for those of you who are reading this story for the first time: if you want the non-prologue-y part of the story without going into too much detail of the events that led up to this point, start with the brief summary below. If not, do what applies to you.  
**

**Here's a brief summary of the previous chapters if you've decided not to read them:**

**_Seit and his best friend Toright have read that something odd goes on in Haven Forest at midnight, so one Friday, they decide to go out and investigate. In the meantime, Skeleios and Areatia, two young Metal Heads who live with their clan in Haven Forest, have found a mysterious device. They get their friend Garuos to explain what that it's a music-playing device. Just after Skeleios and Areatia get their own devices, their clan leader comes in and makes them go light the clan's torches for the clan's usual midnight ceremonies.  
While lighting the torches, Skeleios gets discovered by Seit and Toright, and Skeleios chases them down to capture because it's a clan rule that no human sees the midnight ritual and lives to tell about it. Toright and Seit manage to barely escape, but Skeleios manages to get stuck in Haven City in the process.  
Skeleios, who still has both the music device he and Areatia found and the one Garuos gave him, knows that he's most likely going to be stuck in Haven for a while, so he decides to make a life for himself in the meantime. Seit, on the other hand, becomes fed up with the Krimzon Guard and the Baron's ways, so he decides to run away from home to take his revenge on them by killing members of the KG._**

**Now, on with the story...

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**

It had been almost two weeks since Seit had left home and had begun living life own his own. He had already carefully killed at least two dozen guards, all while under the shadow of the night and with more escape routes than he could count. During the day, he usually lived in a long ditch in the land-slums, one of only three in this part of the city. Somewhat ironically, the ditch he was living in was the closest to the entrance to the Krimzon Guard prison. He did not care, though; it gave him more victims to go after.

Night was beginning to fall, and Seit looked up at the darkening sky over the prison's crimson roof while grabbing his gun for tonight's hunt. He checked how much ammo he had left to make sure there was enough to fire at a few helmeted heads if fate decided to give him the chance to do so; there was plenty left since he had put the ammo from his last victim's gun into his own the night before.

He put his demon mask on over his head and face to keep people from knowing his true identity. He stood up and began walking to the other end of the ditch with his gun in hand and his almost-empty bag over his shoulder, stepping over the old, rusty pipes as he went. Tonight, he had to go out and at least attempt to steal some food from a stand if he was to stay alive for the next few days.

Once he was at the other end of the ditch, he managed to climb his way up over the edge and onto the normal pathway. He considered stealing some food from the nearby stands, but decided against it; the people that owned them were poor enough as it was, and stealing part of their stock might make things worse for them. So, the next best place was the eastern bazaar that lied just west of the South Town area.

As he walked past the border between the slums and South Town areas and towards the eastern bazaar, he glanced around to see who was watching him, if anybody. From what he could tell, at least most of the people around him considered him to be a normal person just like everybody else.

It was when he started going through what seemed to be a path less traveled when he noticed one of the Krimzon Guards following him. Hoping that it was just a coincidence and they were just going in the same direction for the time being, he slowed his pace down a little to see what would happen. The guard kept going at his usual pace, moving ever closer towards Seit. When the guard finally caught up to Seit, he slowed down so the two could walk side by side.

"Hey, kid, I didn't know Halloween was coming around early this year," the guard said with a chuckle. He took a long look at Seit's mask before asking, "Wait, aren't you that murderer who lives in that ditch by the prison?"

"Unfortunately for you, you won't live long enough to find out," Seit responded.

He quickly pulled out his shotgun and shot the guard in his left eye. Blood poured from the wound like water from a fountain, and the guard walked around unsteadily while putting his hand over his eye before finally falling to the ground with a loud thud. Seit heard high-pitched screams from passing civilians coming from nearby, followed by shouts from other guards as they sprinted towards him.

"Of all the places I had to kill this guy, I had to do it here," Seit growled to himself as he noticed the walkway above him and started sprinting towards the eastern bazaar. "Whose bright idea was it to have an upper and a lower walkway in this part of the city?" _Fortunately for me, there's a built-in highway for Zoomers in the bazaar. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to lose these bastards there pretty quickly,_ he thought.

He made his way through the last few pathways of South Town and ran up the middle of the ramp in the bazaar. With Zoomers on both sides of him and a thick border separating the two lanes of traffic, he knew it would be hard for the guards to see him through the glass bottom of the highway. He raced through what traffic there was, leaping over the red lights that let the drivers know where the left edge of their lane was.

When he got to the other end of the highway, he looked below the road on the path behind him to see if he was still being followed. Thankfully, the guards appeared to have either lost him or given up their search for him. Just in case, however, he continued on around the base of the Baron's palace towards the western bazaar. He hoped to the Precursors that the guards on the east side of the city had not told the guards on the west side of the city what had just happened and who to look for.

As he approached the western bazaar, he looked around and noticed that the area guards were not reacting to his presence. He took off his mask and carried it in his hand since he knew that nobody would recognize his real face.

He looked around and remembered sights of the western bazaar he had seen on his trip with Toright to Haven Forest, trying to recall where the potentially good hiding places were. There were two spaces between the rail and the wall on either side of the ramp that he stood on that lied on the border between the palace square and the western bazaar.

"Good enough for me," he grumbled as he walked over to the gap on his left and tossed his bag over the edge.

"Hey, what the…?" the old, bearded homeless man who had already chosen the gap to be his home cried. "What the hell do you think you're doing, kid? Get your goddamn crap out of here!" He tossed Seit's bag back over the rail.

"Oh, sorry about that, mister. I didn't know this space was already lived in," Seit said, picking his bag up off of the ground.

"Yeah, you better be sorry, you little punk," the man grumbled as Seit walked across the ramp to the other gap.

Seit leaned over the edge of the rail to see if the space was taken. There were some bags in the corners along the wall, but other than that, the space looked abandoned. He dropped his bag on the ground just below him, hopped over the rail onto the ground below, and sat against the wall along the side of the ramp. Since he was curious as to what was in the bags next to him, he decided to look through a few. He took one, opened it up, and saw nothing but food inside. _What luck_, he thought.

The sight of the food made his stomach growl loudly, so he took out one of the fruits and started eating it. It was the best-tasting piece of food he had eaten in days, and it only made him want more. He knew he couldn't eat all of it, though; even if whoever lived here before him never came back, he had to conserve what food was left as much as he could.

As he was finishing the last morsels of the first fruit, he saw a shadow appear over him out of the corner of his eye. He turned and looked to find the space's original resident standing over him. The person was covered in clothes that could easily be bought from one of the stands in this area, and had another bag tied with a string around their left wrist.

---

Skeleios stood over the human who was eating the fruit from one of his bags, visually inspecting him very carefully. He recognized him as the black-haired teenager that he had followed from the forest a few weeks earlier. Fortunately by now, he could communicate with him somewhat since he had come to understand a good portion of the humans' everyday language. He could not quite speak it without sounding like a drunk human, but that skill meant little to him at the moment; he could just as easily use the body language he noticed the humans using frequently.

"Hey, is all of this stuff yours?" the human asked, pointing to Skeleios' bags. Skeleios nodded. "Crap, sorry about this. I just saw the stuff here without anybody looking after all of it and thought…" the human started as he began standing up and taking the bag he had brought with him.

Skeleios touched the human's shoulder and motioned for him to sit back down as a way of telling him that it was alright for him to stay there.

"Hmm? You mean I can stay here?" the human asked. Again, Skeleios nodded. "Fine with me," he said, sitting back down against the wall.

Skeleios sat against the wall across from the human, leaning his back against the wall. There were a few moments of silence before the human spoke again.

"Don't talk much, do you?" Skeleios shook his head. "Eh, that's fine. Some people are like that. My name's Seit, by the way; pleasure to meet you."

Seit put his hand out in front of him. It took Skeleios a moment to remember what he was supposed to do, and reached his claws out and shook his hand. It was not until a few seconds after he shook Seit's hand that he realized that he had accidentally hinted at what he really was. However, the human seemed to interpret his mistake in a different way.

"Hey, nice gloves! They feel like real Metal Head skin!" Seit exclaimed. "I like the realistic claws on them, too; they're a nice touch."

Skeleios softly sighed in relief, thankful at the moment to the fact that such things as Metal-Head-skin gloves apparently existed in this city. Whether the gloves were made from actual Metal Head skin or not, he was unsure, but he decided not to dwell on the topic for too long.


	8. Chapter 8

**Another update, thankfully. I feel lucky I can get wifi where I am right now... x.o South Bethany Beach, DE = Wireless dead zone unless you know where to look. Bleh. Anyway....back to the story stuff! ^-^**

**Disclaimer: Seit, Skeleios, and the two nameless guards are mine; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**Reviews = Love! ^-^**

**Enjoy!

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**

It had been almost a week since Seit had moved to the western bazaar and moved in with the quiet homeless person next to the ramp. He was pretty sure that he was well out of trouble with the guards in the slums and South Town, but he did not want to take his chances and move back. Besides, he enjoyed living near so many shops and stands that sold food since they made survival in this part of the city slightly easier.

Since he had changed where he was hiding out and living, he had been killing guards less often. He was afraid they would come after the person he lived with instead, and he could not bear the thought of sending an innocent person to prison.

While he sat in the corner between the ramp wall and the platform above him, he listened to the chatter of the civilians as they went through their daily business. From what he decided to hear, he had heard several people talk about how the city was winning the war against the Metal Heads. He knew this was only another bit of propaganda stated by the Baron to keep people's hopes up; from what he really knew of the war, the city was losing pretty badly. Hell, he had come within five feet of a Metal Head only a few weeks before in Haven Forest. For all he knew, there were plenty more just outside of the city walls waiting to take over the city at any given moment.

Quickly becoming tired of hearing about the bogus victories for the city in the war, he listened around to hear if anyone else was discussing something slightly more truthful. He overheard one man state his fears about this man who had escaped from prison who could turn into a monster at will. He said the monster man was working with the Underground and the Metal Heads.

Seit thought of this as more hearsay, but felt like he had to investigate this anyway. He got up and wandered around, looking around for a pair of guards to follow while trying to appear as if he was minding his own business.

He eventually found a pair walking side by side, and decided to follow them. He kept close enough to hear what they were talking about, but far away enough to make it look like he was simply going in the same direction as them. After following them for a few minutes, he finally heard the guards strike up a conversation about the monster man.

"Hey, did you hear that prison monster's going to the Class One race against Erol?" the guard on the left asked, referencing to the championship race that was always held around this time every year.

"Yeah, I did. I bet he's quite a mad-man on the track," the other guard said. "Erol will beat him, though, that's for damn sure."

"Not unless the new guy freaks out and turns into a monster in the middle of the race and kills everyone he sees like I hear he does. If that doesn't happen, then I'm sure the rabid rat on his shoulder will do something dangerous and at least injure somebody to some extent. I'm just glad I'm most likely not going to be asked to be the Baron's bodyguard during the race! I don't want to be there if that new guy goes crazy!"

"And if you are?"

"Then I think I'm screwed!"

"Eh, don't worry about it. It most likely won't be that bad. Besides, the Baron usually gives at least about a week's notice if he needs a bodyguard for anything. The race is in about four or five days, I think, so we're off the hook."

"You got that right. Hey, have you been noticing that kid who's been following us the past few minutes?"

"You mean the black-haired kid about two meters behind us with the black t-shirt that has a creepy-looking band on it?"

"Yeah, that's him. Doesn't he look like the kid our commander described as some kind of psychotic killer? Clothing-wise, I mean."

The guard on the right glanced behind him and looked at Seit before turning his attention back to his companion. "You're right, he kinda does. Do you think we should go after him?"

"Well, I was hoping to save some ammo for if and when we find that prison monster, Jak, but I think he's good enough for me if things turn for the worse," the left guard said as he slowed his pace down.

Seit took the signal to get as far away from the guards as possible. He turned and ran as fast as his legs would take him back towards the space next to the ramp to his comrade that he was being chased in case he had some kind of illegal merchandise around. As he ran, the guards started running after him, and they appeared to be running at a faster pace then he was.

He quickly turned a corner and suddenly felt a hand grab him by the back of the neck of his shirt and pull him up to the rooftop of the shop next to him. Slightly disoriented, he turned and saw that it was his companion from the ramp gap who had saved him.

"Thanks a ton, buddy! I really owe you one!" Seit exclaimed softly as the guards sprinted through the streets below them.

His homeless companion put his hand over Seit's mouth, then grabbed his wrist and began running along the rooftops towards where they had chosen to hide out. Seit ran as fast as he possibly could to keep up with him, and wondered why they were still running when the guards would most likely not be able to find them up there anyway.

When they arrived at the rooftop above their home, Seit was relieved to see that the guards had not caught up with them yet. However, he could still hear their shouts through the area, and knew that they would catch up soon.

His comrade motioned for him to follow as he jumped down to the ground below and started grabbing as many bags as his arms would carry. Seit leapt down alongside him and grabbed his original bag and most, if not all, of the bags his comrade was unable to carry.

After stuffing their arms with as many bags as possible, they jumped over the wall to the ramp and ran around to the north side of the palace's base to the more well-developed part of the city. From there, they hid in an alley in a mostly deserted area and waited to hear if they were still being pursued. Once they were sure their pursuers were long gone, Seit sighed with relief and relaxed against a wall.

"Hey, sorry about getting the two of us chased all the way out here. I guess curiosity really can kill the cat, huh?" Seit asked with a chuckle. "I can't believe how fast you can run, anyway! Where'd you learn how to do that?"

His cohort sighed and looked at him as if to ask, "Do you really want to know?"

"If you're trying to ask me what I think you're trying to ask me, yes, I do want to know," Seit stated.

His companion looked around carefully to see if there was anybody else with them, and then took off his hood. Seit found himself looking at a very familiar Metal Head face, and found he was speechless for a few moments trying to make sense of the situation. He had recognized the Metal Head as the same one he and Toright had seen in the forest roughly a month before, and was surprised to see it again standing right before him. He had lived with him for over a week and had no idea who or what he really was until now, and it left his mind spinning. The Metal Head put his hand on Seit's shoulder sympathetically, making his mind return to its normal state.

"So, wait, you've been living here since you followed me and my friend into the city? Without giving away what you really are?" Seit asked. The Metal Head nodded in response. "Dang, now _that_ is what I call talent! You could easily fit as a spy or something. Anyway, you got a name? I've been meaning to ask, but keep forgetting to."


	9. Chapter 9

**Yup, more updateness. I put in more stuff from Skeleios' p.o.v. (since, for all I know, he might have some sort of fanbase somewhere in the universe... o.O), and now we finally get to see Erol! Yay! Erol fangirls rejoice! xD**

**Usual disclaimer: The random people and merchants in front of the stadium, Skeleios, Seit, and (since they appear briefly in this chapter) the rest of Seit's family are mine; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**Enjoy! ^-^

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**

During the few days after revealing his true identity to Seit, Skeleios had begun to learn how to read the humans' language thanks to his human friend and cohort. He was also able to practice speaking the humans' language so he would not slur his words and sound as if he had one too many alcoholic drinks within the past hour or so. In return, he taught Seit as much of the Metal Heads' spoken language as he could and wanted to in case the human ever encountered another Metal Head again.

Also, he was glad that he had decided to keep the music players he had gotten in one of his pouches and not sell them off to some willing human; thanks to Seit, he had finally learned how to use the devices like they were meant to be used. Now more than ever before, he could fully understand the lyrics to the songs on them, as well as what all the sounds were and the concepts of what the humans called rock bands.

Since there were not as many shops and stands selling food as the other area, the pair decided to move through the area to find some food and odd, very-short-term jobs to actually afford it so the guards would not go after them for stealing. Seit had allowed him to borrow his mask to wear around other people, just in case some of them were able to see beyond the shadow of his makeshift hood.

Over the past few days, they had gradually made their way to the city's stadium, since Seit had told him that there was going to be a race there soon. There were plenty of posters around on the walls and ground to confirm it. Seit had also mentioned that his brother was in it and it had been a long time he had either seen or talked to him, so they thought it was a good way to get in touch with him.

On the day of the race, they made their way through the metal jungle of the city in the direction of the stadium by staying alongside the wide canals that ran through the center of the main paths. The closer they had gotten to the stadium, the more posters they saw advertising for the race.

"Damn, talk about mass advertising," Seit stated as he kicked a fallen poster off of the bottom of his shoe. "They do this with all of the races every year from what I can tell. Granted I've only been up to see one of the races two or three times, including today, but I don't think that has much of an impact on that decision."

"Only two or three times, including today? I'm surprised! I thought your brother would have made sure you came up a lot more than that," Skeleios said.

"Yeah, a lot of people say that," Seit replied, breathing a deep sigh. "The thing is, though, my brother became the Baron's right hand man about six years ago, and he hasn't bothered to talk to me and my family since. That's why we're up here now. Maybe, by some slim chance, we can find him sometime either before or after the race and get a chance to talk to him or something."

"How will we know which human is him?"

"He's not that hard to find, especially if he's decided to sign autographs for his supposed biggest fans. If there aren't twenty people around him trying to get his autograph, then the best way to find him is to look for a guy that's about a little taller than me with bright orange-red hair. He's probably got some sort of goggles on his head somewhere, too, knowing him well. If we do get a chance to get near him, don't touch him and don't try to take any of his stuff if applicable; he's the most territorial person I know, and absolutely hates people touching him when he doesn't want to be touched."

"That's helpful…I think."

"Don't worry about it too much, Skel. Lucky for us, I still vaguely remember what he looks like, and hopefully vice versa. We should be able to find him in no time."

At that point, they had arrived at the stadium's square, which was beginning to grow more and more crowded with each passing minute. People pushed their way through the crowds, buying merchandise from loud-mouthed vendors, placing last-minute bets on who they thought would win, and talking to each other about the upcoming race. The two comrades managed to shove their way through the crowds and up the stairs in front of the stadium towards the garages, where there were fewer people around at the time. Seit began looking around past the people and over what heads he could, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" Skeleios asked.

"Any sign of my brother. He's bound to be up around here somewhere, since the race is scheduled to start within the hour. With our luck, he's probably down by the garages either signing autographs or talking with his mechanic. Come on, let's try it. I think they're down here," Seit replied, taking Skeleios' arm and pulling him through the crowd towards a pair of red and silver poles with two flashing, red lights on top of them.

"Are you sure we are allowed down there? You _know_ what happened the last time you got the guards to chase us!" Skeleios cried. "You are pretty lucky I am strong enough to lift up a human your size!"

"That's why we're staying right here until we can get a glimpse of either him or someone connected to him," Seit said when they got to the poles. "You know, like his mechanic or somebody."

They looked down the hall towards the slightly open garage doors and the people behind them. Skeleios was more interested in looking for anybody that even slightly resembled Seit's description of his brother, since he had no idea what his mechanic would look like. In fact, he did not have much of a clue as to what a mechanic was in the first place.

The two doors to the first garage on the left-hand side of the hallway were fully open. From what he could see, there were roughly four or five humans in it just past the door that was farther away from him. They looked more as if they were casually talking rather than stressing out over the upcoming event. He could tell that there were two black-haired and one green-haired adult-sized females, one female toddler with bright orange-red hair, and a man with the same colored hair as the toddler standing near a set of shelves covered with trophies.

"Hey, Seit, I think I found him!" Skeleios exclaimed, pointing towards the group of humans.

"Yeah, I see him! And is that…? Yes! Oh my god, that's my mom and my two sisters there with him! I know my little sister's hair like I know the back of my hand! Mehin, Shael, Mom! Over here! It's me, Seit!" Seit called, waving his hand as hard as he could.

---

Seit started running towards the door to the garage, overjoyed with the fact that he had finally caught up with his family after going for what felt like years without seeing them. He was quickly stopped with the feeling of a gun against his forehead and a hand around his neck. Feeling lucky that the grip was loose enough to allow him to breathe, he stared past the gun and into his brother's brown eyes. He tried to speak, but felt scared as to what might happen to him if he did.

"Mom's told me that she's pretty sure you're dead. Prove otherwise before I blow your brains out and make it that way," Erol said softly as he narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the gun.

Seit quickly rolled up the left sleeve of his now somewhat tattered sweatshirt and took off the purple and black striped arm warmer and showed him his left forearm, which was covered with the scars he had received from an accident he had with a vat of Dark Eco during his childhood.

"I'm sure you remember the day I got these," Seit said, trying to hold back the flood of memories and tears that came with the scars. "I remember that day while I was in the hospital and you held my normal hand and told me that you would never forget; that you would always be there to protect me as long as you were still my brother. I think you're a bit long overdue with that promise right now."

Erol's expression had softened greatly, and he lowered the gun and his grip on Seit's hand. "How very wrong you are, little brother," he said, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "I've been keeping my promise all these years, you just haven't seen it."

"Of course I haven't! You haven't bothered to come home to see us since you became the Baron's lackey!" Seit cried, tears of anger burning against his eyes and beginning to roll down his face. "If you had fully kept your promise, you would have at least called us or something to keep in contact with us and let us know that you at least thought about us every so often!"

Seit looked behind his now speechless brother and saw Mehin cowering behind Shael's long, thin legs. He smiled somewhat and continued, "Now look, you've made me scare our little sister! I think we're supposed to do that occasionally, but not like that! What are you, some kind of crazy person?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Second update. Woot. This is the shortest chapter in the entire story so far...and will most likely still be the shortest chapter in the whole story once it's done! o.O Plus, it has a nice, little cliffhanger thing at the end. ^-^ CLIFFHANGERS, YAY! xD ...I think... o.o**

**Usual disclaimer: Seit, Seit's mom, and (since he's in this chapter briefly) Skeleios are mine; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**Though, some of us wish we could have Erol (coughcough me) or Jak all to ourselves, sadly, we can't. Blargh.**

**Reviews are love! :)  
**

**Enjoy! ^-^  


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The prison monster known as Jak had crossed the finish line a fraction of a second before Erol did, causing the stadium to fill with deafening cheers and blinding camera flashes from across the stands. The few surviving racers that remained zipped past the finish line seconds later. Erol, for whatever reason, had decided to do another lap around the track as Jak pulled to the side to be greeted by the cheering of fans and, later, the Baron while the other racers disappeared into their entrance into the garage.

Seit, who had been sitting in the front row directly next to the Baron's special box watching the race as closely as he could, was a little surprised at Jak's win, especially one this close. He glanced into the box and noticed the Baron had gotten into his moving platform and started floating down to the track with the month's supply of Eco right behind it.

The Baron started giving some sort of speech while Jak kept his back towards him, but Seit decided to allow the crowds to drown out what he could hear of it. He barely heard the Baron mention something about the war and how good men are either bought or broken, and then saw Jak turn around and surprise the Baron with his true identity.

As his mother and sisters gathered what they had brought with them and stood up to leave with Skeleios, Seit decided to look and see if he could find his brother anywhere on the track. He glanced down the home stretch and noticed Erol still on his bike, backing up as if he accidentally might have left something nearby on the track.

"What the hell are you doing?" Seit grumbled to himself.

"Come on, Seit, we're going to see if your brother's made it back into the garage yet," Seit's mother said, grabbing his arm.

Seit quickly pulled away and pointed down the track towards the home stretch where he had last seen his brother. "No, Mom, he's down there, I saw him. I think he might've dropped something and went to go back and look for it."

Seit and his mother both looked in that direction in time to see Erol driving a beeline towards Jak. He heard one of the Baron's bodyguards yell, "Look out!" while the Baron's platform moved upwards in case the barrels of Eco exploded.

"What the hell are you doing, you goddamn son of a bitch?" Seit yelled as he jumped over the fence that separated the front row of the audience from the track about ten feet below him. His mother yelled for him not to jump and possibly get hurt, which was a typical act for her. She tried to grab him so she could pull him back up, but she had started reaching out a hundreth of a second too late to save him.

Just as Seit hit the ground, Jak leapt up into the audience as Erol hit the barrels of Eco. There was an almost-deafening explosion, and a large cloud of Dark Eco surged through the air, almost completely wiping out everything it touched, including Seit.

The front of his body and both of his arms surged with a tingling sensation that was not at all foreign to Seit's memory as the force of the Eco thrust his back against the wall. He remembered this feeling just after the doctors took the special cast off of his left forearm a few weeks after his accident when his wounds had healed as much as both his body and the medicine of that time would allow.

His conscious quickly snapped back into the present the moment he heard the crowd screaming in horror and the sounds of their feet against the floor as they ran for the nearest exits and tried to escape. He could barely feel anything on his front side, but he was somehow still able to see. He looked above him into the stands and saw chaos in the crowds. He then looked around the track to see if he could find Erol, or what was possibly even left of him, anywhere on the track. The only thing he could find of him at the time was his metal face-mask, its blood-red eyes leering at him and gleaming in the sunlight that leaked through the open roof of the stadium. He tried to walk towards it and pick it up, but ended up nearly blacking out and collapsing at least three times. When he finally reached it, he picked it up with what little strength he had and stared into its eyes.

"What the hell were you thinking, you son of a bitch?" Seit softly asked the mask as tears rolled down his cheeks and he cradled the object in his tingling hands, hardly able to feel the cold metal as it softly brushed against his fingertips.

The next thing he knew, everything went black as his body fell backwards onto the silver-colored metal track.


	11. Chapter 11

**New month = new chapters! x3 Woohoo! I finally dragged in Jak for a second and last time. Meh, at least he's in here, right? O-O  
**

**Disclaimer: Seit, Reon, Toright, Soray, and (even though she's only mentioned once) Keline belong to me. The mp3 player thing is based off of the Sansa Fuse, which is owned and made by SanDisk. The rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**Reviews = love!**

**Enjoy!**

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"So, as of today, how long's it been since the accident?" Reon asked, sending his comb through his light blue hair as he was glancing at the scars on Seit's arms.

"Almost a year," Seit replied, holding his dark blue guitar in his lap and leaning his back against the palm tree he was sitting in front of. "I prefer not to talk about it, though. Bad things happened then, and I'm really not in the mood to get over-emotional on you like I hear your old girlfriend, Keline, used to do."

"Oh, please. Don't worry about that, Seit; Keline was just being a lot more emotional than she usually is when it was the wrong time of the month to bother her," Soray said, leaning against the thick trunk of one of the tall palm trees and plucking a few notes on his dark green bass that was built for left-handed players. "Girls have more mood swings then, you know?"

"Okay, mister backwards-bass-playing girl expert. How do you not have a girlfriend yet when you know so much about how they work?" Reon asked. "I mean, _come on!_ I swear to whatever higher powers exist in the universe that you know ten times more about them then every other guy in this semi-split-up band combined!"

"Don't just look at me, Seit probably knows just as much as I do about them!" Soray joked. "He lived with three! I only lived with one! Neither of us had a dad around a lot to help us deal with all the girliness!"

"I don't think your mom actually counts as a girl, dude, so technically, you haven't really lived with a girl yet, and Seit's only lived with two," Toright said.

"Either way, it's most likely all because your dads were sucked into the guard for whatever reason and never came back to live with you guys. Well, full-time at least," Reon said. "I don't know how or why any of us didn't get sucked in with them, but I feel damn fortunate to be hanging around here instead of being dead."

"Who cares about all that now? The Baron's long dead along with his crappy Krimzon Guard, and may his soul never rest in peace given what kind of hell-hole he made Haven. Thank the Precursors for the oasis that we live in right now, the fresh water in this little lake behind me, and trees to give us shade and keep all of us alive out here, right guys?" Seit asked, raising his metal container full of water as some kind of toast.

"Screw this place, I've heard there's supposed to be some kind of city out here somewhere with plenty people who are actually alive in it. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going off to find it," Soray said, putting his bass into the back of his van and his shoulder-length, crimson hair into a ponytail while getting in the driver's seat. He leaned out the window slightly and shouted, "If you want to ride shotgun, you all know what phrase to say. Otherwise, there's plenty of room in the back seat and one hundred times more desert to walk through."

"The old, dead Baron's a fruit-cake!" Toright shouted as he got into the passenger's seat, reciting the phrase Soray was referring to.

Seit shoved his guitar into the back of the van as Reon climbed into the back seat. As he closed the back door, he looked back through the desert. For most of the day, he had felt as if something was behind him. However, every time he looked back, including this time, he saw nothing that appeared out of the ordinary.

"Are you coming with us or what, Seit? I'm giving you ten seconds to get your ass in the van before I turn the engine on and pull out of here while leaving you. Unless you want to live on sand for the rest of your life, I suggest you get in the van," Soray said, sticking his head out the window to face Seit.

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a second to get in here," Seit replied, crawling into the back seat next to Reon.

---

Seit stood at the tall gate and looked out at the desert that lay out in front of him, his brother's face-mask down in front of his eyes slightly as a vague attempt to keep the sand out. In the distance, he could faintly see the Marauders' cars ripping through the dunes, keeping a fair distance away from the entrance to Spargus like they normally did. In case they made one wrong move and got too close to the gate, however, he had his old shotgun in a holster attached to his belt. He normally only used it in emergencies, but he wouldn't reisist a trigger-happy moment if the Marauders gave it to him.

Soray had finally found the city he had talked about almost continuously since they had been banished two weeks ago, and the people there took them in. The peacefulness of the city the locals called Spargus reminded him of the days before Praxis' rule, and before his family appeared to slowly tear apart when Erol joined the guard. The memories it brought back made him feel uncomfortable around the people there, which was why he was now staring out into the desert.

"Hey, new guy, are you going out for a road trip or something?" a somewhat familiar voice called behind him.

He turned and saw the one who was speaking to him was a young man with dark blue eyes and yellow-green hair wearing a blue tunic and white pants, along with other various things other citizens of Spargus wore. Even though his hair was significantly shorter from what he last remembered, Seit immediately recognized the man's face as that of Jak, and frowned slightly at the sight of him. Knowing it was best not to be rude to him at a time like this, he decided to go somewhat against his greatest preferences and speak to him.

"Nah, I'm just out here to get some fresh air," Seit replied. "What did you do to get stuck out here? Kill some important people? Get some bad aquaintences?"

"I've done so many things that I don't have a clue as to exactly what they banished me for. Everything possible and absolutely nothing at the same time, I guess," Jak said with a shrug. "What about you?"

"The old hags in the new Haven City council most likely have something against rock music, which is probably why they decided to banish me and some of my band-mates to this place. Anyway, where's this little, orange friend of yours I've seen with you?" Seit asked. "I recognize you from around Haven, and you two were together every time I saw you."

"I'm right here, big guy," another male voice said from behind Jak. A small, orange, weasel-like creature with a yellow underside hopped up onto Jak's left shoulder. He was wearing a pair of goggles on his head and fingerless gloves on his hands. "The name's Daxter, Dax for short. My sidekick here's Jak."

"Nice to meet you both; I'm Seit," Seit replied.

"So, where's the rest of this band I heard you say something about? I'm in for some autographs or something in case you all are famous!" Dax exclaimed.

"Right now, famous my ass! I'll introduce you to 'em, anyway. The last time I saw them, they weren't too far away," Seit stated, walking back towards the door into Spargus.

---

Seit was sitting against a wall just outside of Spargus' palace's entrance, waiting for Jak and Daxter to come back out. Jak had promised him earlier to take him back to Haven City since he and Dax had business to take care of there.

He had a feeling Jak was going to be up in the palace for a while, so he put his headphones on over his ears, turned on the small, black music player Skeleios had given him, and let the music blast into his skull through his eardrums. He stared at the music player and thought about his Metal Head friend, wondering how the war was treating him. He hoped that the barrier between the normal part of the city and the section the Metal Heads had taken over still existed so his friend could at least live with his own kind in peace without too many humans poking around the place.

His daydreams and thoughts were suddenly cut off when he felt Jak nudge against his foot with his boot.

"You ready to head back to Haven?" Jak asked.

"Yeah, sure I am," Seit replied, standing up and shoving his music player and headphones back into one of his pockets. "Let's hope that place hasn't been completely destroyed beyond belief while we were gone!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Second update for the day. Woop. And... MORE CLIFFHANGERS! Yay? Yay. And, more Skeleios and Metal Heads, cuz I know they have some kind of fanbase somewhere. I don't know exactly where, but what the heck.**

**Anything spoken in the Metal Head language in a section where everyone else is speaking English is put in italics and translated for your convenience.  
**

**Disclaimer: Seit, Skeleios, Garuos, and Areatia are mine; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog, even the random flying, ride-giving Metal Head.**

**Reviews = love!**

**Enjoy! ^-^

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**

Seit stood at the now-destroyed barrier between the human and the Metal Head sections of the city, wondering what could have possibly had the power to annihilate it. It did not matter much to him, however. What mattered most at this moment was getting back in touch Skeleios if he was still alive and living there. He was thankful to Jak for dropping him off there while on his way up north towards the Freedom League headquarters in the re-done section of the city. The last thing he wanted to do was risk his life to get here by hiking through the war-torn paths of the city to get here.

He walked over the bottom of the barrier and stood at the edge of the walkway that hung over a canal filled with some kind of glowing, lime green ooze. He heard the growls of Metal Heads around him, knowing that the situation would grow hostile within a matter of seconds if he did not act quickly. Fortunately, he still remembered at least most of what Skeleios had taught him when it came to the Metal Heads' language, which would become very useful if he played his cards right.

Two Metal Heads carrying staves that shot blood-colored bolts of Eco out of the red gem on one end cornered him on his left and right sides, pointing the Eco-shooting ends of their staves at him. He was somewhat familiar with the looks of this type of Metal Head because one of them had helped chase him and Toright out of Haven Forest about a year ago. Another Metal Head stood behind him, most likely with some kind of weapon.

"These damned humans just don't know when to quit coming around to attack us, do they?" the creature behind him asked his cohorts in their native language.

"I'm not here to attack, actually," Seit said in the best way he could, which caused the two Metal Heads beside him to appear surprised that he could speak and understand their language. "I'm just here to see an old friend of mine, maybe you know him. His name is Skeleios; at least, that's what he told me it was."

"Where'd you meet him? How did you learn our language?" the Metal Head behind him asked, quickly spinning Seit around to see his face. The Metal Head was dark purple in color, just as tall as Seit was, and carried some sort of sling in his left hand.

"It's a long story, but I swear, he's the only reason why I'm here in the first place. I'm not looking for a fight, and I'm not looking to steal anything that belongs to you," Seit replied. "Now, do you know where he is or not?"

"Of course I do. I'll take him to you, just stay close behind me," the purple Metal Head replied. He turned to the Metal Head to Seit's right and said, "Areatia, come along and cover our backsides. We don't need some other human coming around out of nowhere and attacking us from behind."

The skinny purple Metal Head led Seit down the path on the right side of the canals with the one known as Areatia following them close behind.

"So, you're the human Skel's told us about, huh? The one he met after getting stuck in the city before everything went to hell?" the purple Metal Head asked. Seit nodded in response. "He's said a lot of good things about you… Seit, was it?" Seit nodded again. "Good, my memory with names isn't as bad as I thought it was. My name's Garuos, and as you probably figured out earlier, she's Areatia. We're good friends of Skel's, just as you are."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Seit said, trying to keep his eyes from wandering too much to the area around him.

"I'd like to say the same thing," Garuos said.

Just ahead of them stood the base of a tall tower, and there was a small group of Metal Heads in front of it. They all appeared to be waiting for the door that covered the entrance to open up, at least from a distance.

"Hey, Skel, I've got a friend here who wants to see you!" Garuos yelled to the crowd.

One of the Metal Heads looked up, and then ran straight for Seit. Seit immediately recognized him as Skeleios, and sprinted to his friend to greet him.

"Seit, it's you! I can't believe it!" Skeleios cried in a combination of languages. "Where did you and the rest of the guys go? I looked all over the humans' section of the city for you all whenever I possibly could, but you guys were nowhere to be found!"

"A group of some old humans decided they didn't like the style of music we were playing, so they sent us out to live in the desert. Of course, the sent-to-the-desert thing was most likely because we protested like crazy when they attempted to take our instruments away permanently, but we're all alive and well and still have what we were able to salvage. That's all that matters, right?" Seit asked.

"This is true. Hey, come here for a sec, we need to see if you can at least try to help us open this door," Skeleios said, leading Seit to the almost membrane-like door at the base of the tower. "One of our guys said some huge, blue and red thing made of metal went in there earlier and set off the tower's emergency system. We just want to see if you can figure out how to get in there with what few supplies we have right now. Trust me, we've thought through everything we could possibly think of as much as possible, and we just need another opinion before going through with anything.

"We need to get this door open as soon as possible because this tower is actually our nest and a new batch of kids are just about ready to come out. If they can't get out and get some real food, this entire generation will be wiped out within three or four days from a combination of starvation and cannibalism. None of us know whether or not the emergency system will be able to shut itself down within that time period, and we don't want to take the risk of finding that out. We'd go in through the air vents, but "

Seit looked at the door, then at what little supplies the group of Metal Heads had in the way of weapons. The supplies included some knives, small bombs, and a few rocks that Seit figured would be used create a spark and light the bombs, appeared to be the only things that had any chance of at least damaging the door.

"How about we try the bombs? Sure, they're small, but they still might be able to do something. Maybe we can put them along the edge of the door and setting them all off at the same time and see if they can destroy the edges of the door. Then, we can tilt the door in either direction and get inside," Seit suggested.

"It's a good thought. Alright, guys, let's get these bombs set up!" Skeleios yelled to the rest of the Metal Head group.

Once the bombs were set in place by a few of the Metal Heads, Skeleios held a lit match to the fuse that was connected to the rest of the fuses while Seit and the other Metal Heads watched from a safe distance. He lit the fuse and quickly jumped out of the way, joining Seit and the other Metal Heads on a nearby platform.

Just as the fuses were within inches of their respective bombs, a Zoomer carrying a set of explosives speed through the canals as fast as it could possibly go, heading straight for the door to the tower. Another Zoomer was following a few feet behind it, acting as an escort. A few feet before the first Zoomer crashed, the human who was driving it leapt off and landed safely on the ground nearby. Seconds later, the Zoomer hit the door just as the bombs exploded. The Zoomer and the explosives it carried exploded on impact either with the door or with the exploding bombs around them, completely destroying the door in the process. As the humans on the second Zoomer appeared to be celebrating, Seit, Skeleios, and the rest of the Metal Heads with them quickly slipped into the nest through the clearing smoke.

"How far do you think this metal thing you hear went through here was able to go by now?" Seit asked Skeleios as they made their way up the path through the nest.

"Giving how long it's been since I heard it happened, I think it most likely got all the way to the top," Skeleios replied. "I can get somebody to get us up there fast."

"Good, I'd like to figure out what's decided to come through here just as much as you guys. From what I can tell from your description, it's one of the robots leftover from the Baron's rule. They're pretty dangerous from what I've heard about them, so I'd be prepared to attack it with whatever you have if I were you," Seit explained.

"No problem, Seit," Garuos said. "I've got pretty damn good accuracy and Areatia's good with medium-range combat with that staff of hers."

"Not to mention I've got a pretty good right hook that can knock out even the toughest warriors the Metal Heads have. We'll be fine," Skeleios added.

Skeleios got the attention of one of the large, flying Metal Heads nearby and beckoned it down to give the four of them a ride up to the top of the nest. Within seconds, the winged Metal Head had flown them up through the hole in the ceiling at the top of the nest. It landed in the room and let Seit and the other Metal Heads off of its back, then left through the hole it had just flown out of moments before.

Seit looked around quickly, taking in the odd sights of his current location. On the wall in front of him was a giant ring, which he thought was some kind of teleporter. On the wall directly opposite from the teleporter was a hole that led directly outside.

"You have _got_ to be freaking kidding me! There was another way in here the _entire time_ and I'm just figuring this out _now_?" Seit cried at the sight of the hole.

"There was?" Skeleios asked.

"You've been living around here for _how long_ and you didn't know about that hole until now?" Seit asked, pointing at the hole at the back of the room. The three Metal Heads stared at the hole at the back of the room, absolutely dumbfounded at the sight.

"Well, would you look at that; I guess we didn't have to waste those bombs on that door after all, especially since that human's car busted it open for us anyway," Garuos said.

"I think situations like this are what the internet-humans commonly refer to as 'fails'," Skeleios stated.

"Guys, we have worse things to worry about right now," Areatia said, looking extremely panicked and holding the Eco-shooting end of her staff out in front of her.

---

Seit put his brother's metal mask over his face, pulled out his shotgun from its holster on his belt, and slowly turned around while preparing to fire at will. A few feet in front of him stood a group of dark, monster-like creatures that were at least six inches taller than him. If they were not so dark in color, he thought that they were possibly some sort of hybrid between a Metal Head and a human.

Behind the dark creatures stood a tall robot that looked nothing like what Seit had seen before in his life. It was almost twice as tall as he was, and for the most part, looked like most of the robots he had seen before. Like Skeleios had described, it was primarily blue and red in color. As he looked at what he could see of it from the bottom up, it slowly took a slightly more human shape. Its left hand was large and looked as if it could easily fit most of his body in its grip, while its right hand was the size of an average human hand and was covered by a navy blue glove that looked just like the ones his brother wore when he was still a human.

When he got a good look at the robot's head and face, Seit became almost completely paralyzed with shock. Over half of it was not cyborg, but human, and not just any human, either. He was staring right into what remained of the long lost face of Erol, tattoos, bright orange-red hair, and all.

"Well, what have we here? Looks like more foolish Metal Heads coming around to meddle in our affairs. I guess you all want to die just like those before you, am I correct?" Erol asked, his voice sounding more evil than ever now that it had a more robotic element to it.

"_So it was you who killed the rest of those raid groups who came in here before, wasn't it?"_ Seit heard Garuos growl under his breath.

"Prayers won't help save you now, I'm afraid," Erol said with an evil smirk.

"Prayers won't, but this probably will," Seit stated, raising his gun up and aiming directly it at his brother's face.

Erol chuckled as he stared down the barrel of the gun, as if he knew that Seit most likely would not dare to pull the trigger. "I see you wish to die with them. Perhaps I should spare your life, seeing as you're only a human. Perhaps I should spare all your lives; then again, perhaps I shouldn't. Think of one good reason why you all should live while you rot in the prison in the Dark Makers' ship."

The dark creatures quickly came forward and attacked in the blink of an eye, knocking all four of them out instantly.


	13. Chapter 13

**Woot, another update. ^-^ More memory curses and more Eco stuff. And more Erol! *glomps him* Yay! And thank you random-person-whoever-you-are for adding this to your story alert list thing! =D *feels mecha-loved*  
**

**Usual disclaimer: The cell, the random room, Garuos, Areatia, Skeleios, and Seit are mine, the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**R&R's & other things = love!**

**Enjoy!

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"Guys, I'm sorry I got us into this crap. Us being held here as prisoners, nearly getting all of us killed, and everything related to that," Seit stated, resisting the strong urge to punch the wall he was facing with all his power.

"Seit, it's not your fault," Areatia said.

"She's right; it's not you who should be apologizing for being here, it's us. Skel, Areatia, and I are the ones who got all of us into this situation. We would've gotten that door open eventually whether you came around or not. If anything, I think we should be thanking you for being there to somehow manage to keep us alive, for now at least," Garuos said. "Either way, your brother's a damned psychopath, no matter what you say otherwise. Why he was allowed to come back to life after that damned accident is well beyond me and what I know about fate, karma, and whatever goes along with them. What he says he's done to others of our kind is the worst anybody could've ever done, I don't care who he is. For all I care, I hope his soul rots wherever it goes if he ever dies again."

"Garuos, come on, he's gone through a lot mentally and emotionally with his brother. I'm pretty sure one of the last things he wants right now is for someone to say something extremely crappy about him, even if it really is true. Lighten up a bit on the insults, would you?" Skeleios asked.

Seit appreciated Skeleios' intentions, but he physically did not show it. He sat in the back corner with his right side to the back of the cell, curled his knees into his chest, and closed his eyes.

The memories from his childhood that still lingered began to flood his thoughts, completely shutting out the outside world. His mind was slowly going through every childhood memory it could access, beginning with his second birthday when his mother almost burned the cake and progressing from there. They came through one by one, each fading into the next like a collage. He felt like he was seeing a movie, watching his childhood experiences run through as if he was somebody else looking in on the world through his eyes. They were all good experiences, ones he desperately wanted to re-live over and over; never wanting to escape the loop knowing what was to come after they had completely run their course.

His memories were soon interrupted, however, when he felt a sharp stab in his left side.

"Damn, you didn't have to poke me so hard like that, Areatia!" he cried, grasping his side and looking next to him.

Instead of seeing Areatia like he expected, he saw another one of those dark creatures from before, staring down at him with its evil eyes that seemed to almost glow in the faint light of the cell. It grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the cell and down a long hall, going at such a pace to allow him little time to catch his footing. He struggled to get out of his captor's grip, but nothing good came out of his efforts. Eventually, the creature stopped at a specific room and tossed him in almost like a rag doll, closed the door, and left.

For a few moments, he laid in the position he was left in to regain his thoughts, hoping that the creature had not broken his arm, or anything else for that matter. When he pushed himself up into a standing position, he was relieved to have felt nothing out of the ordinary.

He looked around the room, attempting to determine exactly why he was thrown in here against his will. It was round with no furniture in it whatsoever, and was lit by a single bright white light. There was a mirror on the wall to his left, directly across from the door. The mirror made him think that he might be in some sort of odd interrogation room of some sort, like the ones he had seen on the cop shows on television.

He suddenly heard heavy, metallic footsteps move through the door and stop at his door, and his felt begin to jump at the thought that they most likely belonged to Erol. His inner-child was desperate to see him again, to experience life for the second time and feel joy again. His teenage self, however, was not so sure that his brother was acting even remotely close to what he had last remembered.

The door suddenly opened, revealing the metallic silhouette of his brother in the bright light of the hallway.

---

"Well, look who we have here. Do you have any idea how long I've waited to see your face again, Seit? It's felt like years," Erol said, slowly entering the room and approaching Seit. Seit said nothing and closed his eyes, feeling his brother's presence move ever closer towards him. He wondered when Erol had figured out who he was, but chose not to ask. "The accident has rendered you speechless, hasn't it? It could be worse, you know. It can always be worse."

"This is true. I could've ended up turning into a robotic psychopath just like you if I was lucky enough to live," Seit stated, finally opening his eyes to watch his brother slowly pace around him.

"Knowing the two of us, that probably would happen, especially once my loyal robots found out how emotionally close we are."

"Were, Erol; we _were_ emotionally close. That slowly changed the very day you became the Baron's lackey and cut off practically every tie you had with us. Mehin's lucky she knows you were even around thanks to stories she's been told about you."

"Give it a rest, Seit. Knowing you like I do, you still thought about me in the years after that, which probably does mean something in terms of how close we still are. Let's face it; you want things to return to the way they were long before I became the commander of the guard. Get out of the past and into the matter at hand. I want you to be my right-hand man behind the scenes. Together, we can take the fate of this entire planet into our hands and do whatever we want with it."

"What do you see in me but not the rest of our family? Why am I so special?"

"You have a lot of potential talent in you to control Eco. The Dark Makers seem to be drawn to that in you. Think about it; how else might have you survived those accidents with Dark Eco from before? Most people would have died if they had been in your place a year ago at the race, but you? You managed to survive with nothing more than some scars to prove that you were ever there. For all we know, those scars may have also granted you power beyond your wildest dreams."

Seit thought through what he was being offered, wondering exactly what would happen to him. For all he knew, he would physically turn out to be like Jak and become half-demon. After a few moments of thought and consideration, he became more interested in the idea, wanting powers beyond the far reaches of his imagination; powers that could be used to get his way at least most of the time, and also be used to keep people from hurting his friends by any means possible.

"I think I like this idea. When's the soonest we can start?" he asked.


	14. Chapter 14

**Update numbah two... with more action and crud! And...a semi-happy ending. Ending to the story? Nah, not in this chapter! xP Not as much cliffhangers this time around, bleh. Gawd, I love trying to shove in cliffhangers! xD**

**Short, little disclaimer: Seit is mine, the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**R&R's & other things = love!**

**Enjoy!

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**

The treatment he had received had only lasted for two days, but already Seit had responded well to it; his body had chosen to accept the treatment and keep him alive, and he had began to figure out how to control the powers it gave him so he could turn them on and off at will. From what he heard, he had positively responded to it much faster than those who had previously received the same treatment.

He personally blamed this on his past exposure to the Eco, even if it was only for a short period of time. He figured that the past exposure to it allowed his body to become used to being around it, and therefore not react as it normally would on an ordinary person.

As for the fate of his Metal Head friends, he never heard word of what had actually happened to them. He hoped they were still alive, but was beginning to fear the worst. He hoped the powers that were possessed by the dark creature the Eco was slowly beginning to turn him into would help him keep them alive, but he had not been given the chance to figure out where they were and whether or not they were still alive. The Dark Makers had never discussed such things in front of him, which made him feel helpless to a point and begin to question the true reason why he was chosen to go through these experiments.

Seit flew around the cargo room of the Dark Makers' ship, the black, leathery wings of his Dark-Eco-self spread out as wide as they would possibly go. At the moment, it was his job to inspect the large, five-story-tall, spider-like creatures the Dark Makers called terra-formers to see if they were ready to invade the planet below him; his brother observed his every move from the safety of a platform in the middle of the room. He had no exactly idea what these creatures were supposed to do, but he knew that it could not be good. So far, his inspection had gone on uneventfully. The giant creatures were completely still and silent, and, from what he could tell, had no obvious physical flaws.

While he was busy studying the physical appearance of one creature's legs, he suddenly got a strange sense that something bad was about to happen. Seconds later, there was a loud explosion as a beam of Eco tore through the room. His brother took control of one of the creatures and used it to escape the weakening ship towards the planet thousands of miles below, and Seit followed it as fast as his wings would allow.

When he finally caught up to the falling creature, he grabbed the nearest possible thing on it and hung on tight. It fell for what seemed like an eternity before it crash-landed somewhere in the wide, open desert of the Wasteland.

"Of all the places for this thing to land, it somehow had to be here, didn't it?" he asked himself as he flew alongside the head of the giant creature.

"Seit, I can't risk having you here. I can't bear the thought of you at least getting hurt in case something decides to attack," Erol said from a loudspeaker on the creature's head. "I'd rather risk my life much more than risk yours, so go find some place to hide and don't argue with me why I'm making you do this. I'll come back for you once everything's settled; I can't guarantee it, but I'll try like hell."

"Sound like Mom, why don't you?" Seit joked. "Just try not to get yourself killed again, alright? I've already lost you once, and it was crappy enough to witness it then have to live through it that time."

"I promise I'll try. In case I do, I want you to remember that I really have looked out for you for as long as I possibly could. I know you hardly saw it half the time, and I'm sorry for that," Erol said.

"Thanks a bunch for it, bro; I really mean it. Take care of yourself, alright?" Seit asked as he gently whacked the top of the creatures head a few times and flew off.

As he flew above the desert towards where he vaguely remembered Spargus' gate to be, he stared down into the sands below. He noticed a car tumbling through the dunes towards the terra-former. Getting a bad feeling about it, he flew down to get a closer look at it. He stared into the driver's seat and immediately recognized Jak's bright yellow-green hair and Daxter's orange and yellow fur.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Seit asked himself as he flew over the car and closer to Spargus.

---

Seit watched from the palm trees near the Spargus gate and watched in worry as Jak fought Erol and the terra-former, glancing at the quick flashes of color that streaked between the terra-former's head and back. He felt the strong urge to fly in and go after Jak for trying to kill his brother again, but remembered his brother's words and stayed put. The Eco inside him began to tingle, and he tried as hard as he could to keep it from coming out at full blast. He was beginning to feel more and more anger towards Jak for doing this as he watched the battle raged on, first cutting off the creature's legs and causing it to land right in front of Spargus' gate, then driving in and starting this fight.

The next thing he knew, there was a small explosion coming from the back of the terra-former's head and Dark Eco in gas form began to pour out. The creature's head began spinning around wildly, and he could see a white glow shine from its back.

The glow suddenly shot towards the back of the creature's head, and then there was a loud explosion as the creature blew to smithereens. It would be a miracle if either Jak or his brother managed to come out of it all alive. Seit's heart seemed to skip a beat every few seconds as he waited for the dust to settle so he could look for casualties.

Once the strong, sand-filled gusts wind from the explosion had died down to a more normal level and he got the sand out of his eyes, Seit brought out his wings and glided towards what little remained of the terra-former. As he did, he saw Jak and Daxter walking towards their friends who had come out to make sure the two supposed heroes were alright. He knew this could not be good for him, but continued on towards the rubble anyway.

The explosion site was, for the most part, a large, mostly black crater with pieces of terra-former sticking out in various places. He slowly walked towards where he thought the creature's head had once hovered, occasionally nudging pieces with his foot as he did. His hopes of his brother being alive to any extent began to dwindle as he started finding shards of glass sticking up out of the sand. Amongst the glass, he started to find more and more pieces of wire and blue or silver metal mixed with the broken remains of the creature's head.

He then saw a large lump of red, silver, and blue metal somewhat buried near the edge of the crater. From what he could see, it had both arms and most of an upper body. He ran towards it as fast as his legs would take him and quickly begn digging through the sand surrounding it, hoping for the best.

Suddenly, one of the arms began to twitch, whirring and buzzing as it struggled to move. It was the arm that had his brother's only surviving hand from the first accident; he immediately grabbed it and felt his hopes rise higher than the surrounding mountains. Erol's head slowly emerged from where it had been buried, struggling to move just as much as his arm and trying to get a glance at who had grabbed his hand.

"It's just me, dude. You kept your promise and at least tried to stay alive, and that's good enough for me. I'll love you as a brother for the rest of time. I promise I'll see you on the other side if you really have to go now," Seit said, tightening his grip on Erol's hand.

For one last time, Erol smiled at him and closed his eyes, and Seit knew at that point that he was gone. He felt tears begin to build up in his eyes and brushed some away with the sleeve of his shirt. This time, he felt a bit grateful that he could say goodbye one last time to his brother. He thanked whatever forces that were in control for giving him this chance the second time around.


	15. Epilogue Maybe

**Last update for today. I managed to whip up an epilogue chapter for this story, just for kicks. x3**

**I originally included more of an Ozzy-Osbourne-Crazy-Train-lyric reference in this chapter in addition to what Toright says, but I don't want to risk anything, so I took it out before uploading it. x_O Something just told me my usual disclaimer wouldn't cover that sort of thing. If a bunch of people want me to shove it in, tell me and I'll put it in and slightly edit my disclaimer for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Seit, Soray, and Toright are mine; Toright's random crazy train thing is a reference to the song, "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne; the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**R&R's + other stuff = love!**

**Enjoy! ^-^

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**

Seit sat in the corner of the small porch that was attached to Soray's apartment, watching the wind carry scores of white flower petals that were the size of his fingertips through the air above the streets and canals. He took in a breath of spring air, thankful that the two days of almost constant rain had finally ended and let the temperature become warmer and more spring-like. From what he could smell, one of the neighbors was baking at least one loaf of bread; others were hanging up loads of laundry fresh out of the washing machine so they could dry in the bright sun.

"Great weather today, isn't it?" Soray asked as he opened the sliding glass door and came outside, letting Toright's loud guitar playing out at full blast for a few seconds.

"Yeah, it's really nice out here. It's about damn time it came around, too; I was starting to get sick of the rain and cold weather," Seit responded.

"Don't forget those damn little white flower petals that kept sticking everywhere possible the second they get a drop of water on them," Soray added. "I'd much rather have them flying in my face every so often then sticking to my shoes all the time. Anyway, how do you like the place? You've been here for over a week now and haven't said a word about it."

"I haven't complained about it, have I?" Seit asked with a small grin.

"No, but you haven't exactly said anything good about it, either."

"This is true. It's a nice place, Soray. I could live here full-time if I wasn't looking for my own place to live so I don't have to mess your place up anymore."

"I don't mind if you have to stay here for the rest of your life. Right now, I got enough money and crap to support you, me, and Toright for a long while."

"That's good, especially for Tor. No offense meant towards the guy, but given the right conditions, it seems like the last thing he can do is save money."

"It seems so. How's your living family been lately, do you have any idea?"

"Nope, I haven't been able to find them yet. I hope they're alright, but given the war and everything, who knows at this point. At least I know that my Metal Head friends are alright at the moment; I just visited them the other day and they seemed to be carrying on with their lives pretty well, and one of them will be coming up sometime tonight to do some catching up and stuff. I just wish we could say the same thing."

"Damn. This war seriously needs to end soon, man. It's driving a lot of people, including me, absolutely mad, and I think Toright's guitar playing is making it worse right now. I'll go see if I can get him to turn it down a little before some the neighbors start complaining again," Soray said as he opened the door.

"Aren't most of your closest neighbors a bunch of old people who can't really hear well?" Seit asked as he followed Soray through the door.

"Yeah, but what little they can hear through the walls seems to disturb them greatly," Soray shouted over Toright's deafening guitar playing and the song blaring out of the stereo just below it.

"All aboard the crazy train!" Toright shouted over the noise as his friends entered the room.

Soray went over and turned down the volume on Toright's amp to a more tolerable level, leaving the volume of the speakers alone; it was normal for Toright to set the volume on his guitar amp about ten times louder than the speakers.

"Did one of the old farts complain about my guitar playing again?" Toright asked as he played bits and pieces of various scales on his guitar.

"Nah, but at the rate you were going, one of them was probably bound to at some point. I'm just in one of those moods to not get my ass chewed out again by that little, old lady next door again," Soray stated.

"You mean the one with the husband who hates when the resident stray cat wanders into his room?" Seit asked with a chuckle. "If it is, then if she gets too annoying, we'll just shove the cat in there when they aren't looking. That'll bug the crap out of them!"

"How, exactly, do you plan on getting the cat to go into their room without much of a fuss?" Toright asked.

"Simple: cat treats. Just make a trail of them leading down the hall, through their door, and ending at a small pile of them in the middle of their room. Either that or we tie a feather to the end of a string, get the cat to chase us with the feather, and toss the feather into their room for the cat to play with while we get the hell out of there," Seit explained.

"Or, even easier: grab the cat, plop it in the old couple's room, then run like hell out of there and close the door before the cat escapes and the old people notice us," Soray added.

"Eh, my idea seemed funner, but that'll work just as well. What the hell, why don't we go shove the cat in their room anyway? It'll probably be paybacks for a future bitch-fest for playing our music really loud or something," Seit suggested.

"Sure, I'll go with it. I'll try to see if I can get the old people out of their room if they aren't already. If the door's locked, I can probably get it open using the old credit-card-trick. It's worked with my door plenty of times when I've accidentally locked my keys in my room before, so their door shouldn't be much different." Soray said.

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**Note that after this last update, this story does not say "complete". That's because of... well, that would just ruin it.**

**Check back later, this story might have an unexpected update...maybe. _MAYBE_.  
**


	16. End

**Surprise! Final chapter! ^-^ I did a little more with Seit's Dark-Eco-persona-ness, just so it wouldn't be another one of those concepts that's there for one or two chapters and then never comes up again. Plus, more Skeleios! Yay! Yes, he's fine, along with Garuos and Areatia! xP Long story short, they managed to escape the ship while it was being destroyed with the same warp thing Jak uses in the game.  
**

**Usual disclaimer: Toright, Seit, Skeleios, and Soray are mine, the rest belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**R&R's and other things = love!**

**Hope you like the story! Enjoy the last chapter! ^-^

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**

Seit sat on top of the short, wide barrier that stood between the roof of the apartment building and the five-story drop to the ground below. The Eco inside him had been riled up a bit from the moonlight and the cold night air, which made his eyes turn to a blood-red color and his large, leather-like black wings form on his back. His personality usually changed slightly when he was in this sort of state; he spoke less often to everybody, his temper was shorter, and he became more violent when he was angry.

Soray and Toright had quickly become accustomed to these changes; at least, that's what it looked like. Seit, however, was still feeling uncomfortable with his slightly changed persona and appearance. It was times like now when he remembered why he was this way, his memories drawing back to the few treatments he had received in the now-destroyed Dark Maker ship. One way or another, his memories would lead back to his brother, to the days when the two were together all the way up until the day Erol died the second and last time, at Jak's hand no less.

"I know what's on your mind right now, dude," Toright said, as he grasped Seit's shoulder suddenly, making Seit jump slightly. "You can't bring him back, and we definitely don't want you to join him anytime soon, so just live and remember the good times with him, man. Sure, they hurt like hell, but they remind you why you loved him like a brother or whatever anyway. It's better than some people's memories of their various family members, trust me on this one. I'm sure you want to bring your dad back from the war as much as I do, but neither of us sees that coming anytime soon."

"But I don't think I can survive with these memories persistently coming back to me like this, Tor. It's driving me crazy faster than the war is, which is really saying something. They keep coming up everywhere for me: nights like this when the Eco in me is riled up to some extent, in my dreams while I sleep, when I'm awake and thinking about something completely unrelated, it's absolutely nuts!" Seit cried.

"Then we need to do something to help you get through this, dude. Talking to people doesn't help you much, does it?" Toright asked. Seit shook his head. "I don't blame you there; most people might think you're insane. I don't think any kind of medication's going to do anything, either, besides the fact that they can to some weird things to you. I don't think you want to get crazy side effects like seeing little, pink, fuzzy monsters running around everywhere you go." Seit gave him an odd look. "It's what happened to my cousin a few years ago while he was on his attention medication. For all we know, it might happen to you, and I'm not whacking any more people with a pillow a few dozen times to supposedly try to get one of their hallucinations off of them."

Seit sighed and got onto his feet, standing on top of the wall and staring down at the street below with a canal on either side of it. He thought that maybe, just maybe, he could be with his brother again if he could just...

"Dude, what are you doing? What's going through your brain? For Mar's sake, what the hell is going on with you?" Toright demanded, grabbing a hold of Seit's leg and nearly making him lose his train of thought.

"I can't forget him, Tor. At times like now, it's even harder to try. Even now, I realize the time with him that I'll never get back. I can't go back again, man, I can't go back," Seit said, slowly inching his way closer to the edge of the wall. "When I stop thinking about him, I can only do it for so long before the memories I have of him come back and terrorize me. I still hear his voice inside my head, dude. I'll never survive with these dead memories in my heart. We'll see each other again someday, I hope. Later, friend."

---

Skeleios adjusted his hood as he wandered through the streets of the re-built city section, heading towards the apartment building Seit had told him he was living in. He looked back and forth between at the addresses on the doors of the buildings on both sides of him and the small piece of paper with the address Seit had written on it. From what he could tell, he was growning closer and closer to where he was supposed to be.

He had heard that Seit was having some mental problems lately and wanted to see if there was any way he could possibly help. The last thing he wanted to see was one of his closest friends do something that could hurt him in more ways than one.

When he was approximately one block away from the apartment building, he heard a shout from one of the rooftops, which was followed by a loud crash with a splash sounding immediately after. Sounding like trouble, he quickly made his way towards the sound, racing through the streets on his hind legs.

In the canal in front of the apartment building Seit said he was currently living in was the body of a human that was roughly Seit's size. Skeleios quickly pulled it out of the water and onto the pavement in front of him. To his horror, he recognized that it was Seit's body he had just pulled. He quickly attempted to revive him with all of his best efforts, but not even those could save his only good human friend.

Seconds later, Seit's two friends burst out of the front door of the building. The one Seit had introduced to him as Toright grabbed the collar of Seit's shirt and began shaking him.

"Seit, you crazy-ass fool, what the hell did you do that for? Wake up you goddamn bastard! Wake the hell up! We could've helped you if you hadn't gone and jumped, you damned idiot!" Toright screamed, tears rolling down his face.

"He's gone, Toright. He can't wake up. I've tried everything I can to try to save him, but even my best methods failed," Skeleios said.

By that point, a small crowd was beginning to form around them as people came out of their homes to see what had just happened. People were whispering amongst themselves in shock, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"Is it too late to call a medic?" one person nearby asked.

"I'm afraid so," Skeleios answered, shaking his head while putting his arm around Toright's shoulder and trying not to cry. "Let's just hope he's in a better place now where he won't be haunted by whatever the hell made him die like this. Rest in peace, my good friend."


End file.
